A classified booklet containing President Obama's Australian itinerary down to the minute, as well as details of his security convoy and the mobile phone numbers of dozens of senior US and Australian officials, was found by The Age on a Canberra street yesterday morning. The booklet, Overall Program and Orders of Arrangements, for the president's visit, was found by a reporter in a gutter about 100 meters from the front entrance to Parliament.
Alan Dupont, one of Australia's top national security analysts, said the find was a "significant security breach".
"If that had got into the wrong hands, it would certainly put the President and some of his entourage at risk if someone could respond quickly enough to having the information. Even if you were an ordinary crim, there would be a market for that kind of book, so it's not good news," said Professor Dupont.
The 125-page booklet is labeled "In-Confidence" and its cover says the information it holds "is not to be communicated either directly or indirectly to any person not authorised to receive it".
Over 120 pages are dedicated to a minute-by-minute description of Obama's schedule, and it even discloses which limousine door the President will use at events.
"On a signal from the Presidential Advance Agents, the Prime Minister, [Australian ambassador to the US Kim] Beazley and [US ambassador to Australia Jeffrey] Bleich alight from their vehicles," the booklet states for the event at the Darwin air force base yesterday.
It also details "seating arrangements" for the presidential motorcade, the world's highest-security convoy. It lists the exact breakdown of Obama's Secret Service presidential protective division, including its "Counter Assault Teams" a "comms vehicle", an "intel car" and the "Hammer Truck" (Hazardous Agent Mitigation Medical Emergency Response).
Then there are dozens of mobile-phone and landline numbers for senior Australian and US military and civilian staff. The phone numbers included the mobiles of the US deputy ambassador and the US consuls-general in Victoria, Sydney and Perth; a marine major who is an embassy attache; three Australian air force wing commanders in Canberra and Darwin; and the Federal Police co-ordinator for foreign dignity protection.
Professor Dupont said, "It's incredible. It could be exploited down the track because it's got all sorts of numbers in it. And if you are somebody who could exploit that or sell it to someone who could exploit that, it could be serious because you could listen in to the telephone calls of people who are very senior."
#1
end of someone's career - if they are Secret Service. If they are a political appointee/entourage, it's just more of the same incompetence we've come to expect from these clowns
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/20/2011 9:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
...and if it's a cold drop from the Aussie team?
#9
ION BHARAT RAKSHAK > INDONESIAN PRESIDENT SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONA SAID HE HAD RECIVED ASSURANCES FROM BOTH THE US + AUSTRALIA THAT [US Marine] MOVE WILL NOT THREATEN HIS NATION'S INTEGRITY OR SOVEREIGNTY.
Gaaaawwdd, that was a long one!
versus
* SAME > AMERICAN MARINES IN DARWIN ARE NOT TO "CURB" CHINA [in Asia-Pacific], SAYS SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON.
HILLARY = The USA WAS, IS, + WILL REMAIN A PACIFIC POWER [in 21st Century], which I interprete to also directly mean or infer that the US per se will remain mucho interested + involved in Asian affairs.
[An Nahar] Afghan elders Saturday endorsed a long-term strategic partnership deal with the United States while insisting on a string of binding conditions.
Their declaration came at the end of a four-day loya jirga or traditional meeting which also supported holding talks with members of the Taliban who renounce violence, despite the murder of peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani. ... the gentlemanly murdered legitimate president of Afghanistan...
President Hamid 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... told the jirga, which united around 2,000 elders from around Afghanistan, that he accepted its conditions and recommendations.
Its stipulations included emphasizing that U.S. nationals who commit crimes in Afghanistan would not be immune from prosecution and the U.S. must side with Afghanistan if a third country tried to attack it.
The strategic partnership deal will govern the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014, when all NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... -led foreign combat forces are due to leave.
The jirga's findings on the deal, which is still being negotiated by Kabul and Washington, are non-binding.
But they are likely to be used as Karzai to claim he has a general mandate from the Afghan people for his strategy in the ongoing negotiations.
"The jirga has decided that the strategic partnership, for better security in the country, is needed," said the declaration, read out to the meeting of around 2,000 elders in Kabul by jirga spokeswoman Safia Sediqi.
"With regards to the national interest of Afghanistan, the strategic partnership is considered very important."
Other conditions stipulated by the jirga on the partnership deal were that it should be for 10 years initially, although that could be extended, plus that Afghan cops should take the lead in all military operations.
The jirga also called for the Afghan parliament to approve the strategic partnership deal and said that the U.S. should not play out regional rivalries on Afghan soil.
A number of leading Karzai opponents boycotted the loya jirga while some analysts accused the president of seeking to manipulate the meeting to gain backing for a deal which many Afghans strongly oppose.
"The aim of the jirga appears not to be to deliver fresh policy but to get political cover so the president can cite it as evidence that the people supported a deal with the Americans," Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network wrote this week in a blog.
The jirga also voted to endorse peace talks with Taliban members who turn their backs on violence after Rabbani's killing, which badly stalled any hopes of a political settlement with the jihad boys.
"The door of peace should be kept open with the armed opposition who wish to abandon violence and return to a peaceful life but we must ensure that the bitter experience of the past is not repeated," the declaration said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
10 years
NATO is leaving in 2014
No protection of Americans from AFG persecution
A defense against 3rd party intervention
A prohibition against regional focus
AFG cops on every mission
Hug the Taliban
Pretty much a guarantee of crap from every direction. What does the US get out of this?
ZINTAN, Libya: Libya's prime minister hailed the capture of Muammar Qaddafi's son on Saturday as the "crowning" of the Libyan uprising and promised a fair trial for Seif Al-Islam, who was found in the southern desert overnight.
Wonder if he was hiding in a hole...
In the first official announcement of Seif Al-Islam's capture, Abdurrahim El-Keib said he hoped it would "turn the page on the phase of revolution and will mark the beginning of the building of a state of freedom, law, justice and transparency.
"I want to assure our people and all nations of the world that Saif and those with him will be given a fair trial, with the guarantees of local and international law -- those legal processes which our own people were deprived of," he told a news conference in the Western mountain town of Zintan, where Seif Al-Islam and several bodyguards had been taken.
Seif Al-Islam, once favorite to succeed his late father, was arrested by fighters from Zintan, who make up one of Libya's most powerful militia factions. They said they would hold him until they could hand him over to the authorities.
The West urged Libya's new rulers to give Seif Al-Islam a fair trial and work with the International Criminal Court to bring him to justice, fearing he might suffer the same fate as his father, who was beaten and shot dead after his capture.
Not that there was anything wrong with that...
"It is important for future national reconciliation that those responsible for human rights violations committed both before and during the recent conflict are brought to justice," said a spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.
That pre-supposes that justice will be done not just fairly but swiftly. We haven't ever seen anything 'swift' from the ICC or the various Euro courts of justice.
British Prime Minister David Cameron joined calls for a fair trial and offered Libya help in ensuring justice.
"The Libyan government has told us again today that he will receive a trial in line with international standards, and it is important that this happens," he said in a statement. "Britain will offer every assistance to the Libyan government and the International Criminal Court to bring him to face full accountability and justice for what he has done."
The Libyans don't need the ICC to be involved. They can handle this.
France, which together with Britain pushed for a military intervention in Libya last March, urged fighters who captured Seif Al-Islam to hand him over to the authorities.
"Seif Al-Islam must answer for his acts and face trial," the French foreign ministry said.
Human rights activists said a trial by the ICC would send the right message to the international community that Libya is serious about protecting rights.
Then again, having the new Libyan government try and execute him would send a message too...
"Fair prosecution at the ICC will afford Libyans a chance to see justice served in a trial that the international community stands behind," said Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
Fair prosecution by a Libyan court, delivered by Libyans, would send a better message. Note that the implicit message of all the Euros is, in the end, imperialist: the Libyans apparently aren't capable of delivering justice. The Libyans should be insulted.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt pressed for his removal to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which wants to try the 39-year-old on charges of crimes against humanity during the crackdown on protests.
The court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he would visit Libya in a week to discuss the prosecution.
But many Libyans want Seif Al-Islam tried at home, believing he knows the location of billions of dollars of public money amassed by the Qaddafi family. Libya's interim justice minister said the country would try him first, for crimes that carry the death penalty.
"We are ready to prosecute Seif Al-Islam," Mohammed Al-Alagy said. "We have adopted enough legal and judicial procedures to ensure a fair trial for him."
That ought to end it...
Alagy, who does not expect to retain his post in a new government, said he would be tried on charges of instigating others to kill, misuse of public funds and recruiting mercenaries among other crimes.
Across Libya, Said Al-Islam's capture was celebrated. Keib, the incoming prime minister, thanked Libyans for their "struggle and historic heroism" that ousted the regime and captured Seif Al-Islam.
"It is the crowning of the sacrifices of our people," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
They'll give him a fair trial before they hang/shoot/behead him.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/20/2011 0:20 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"Fair prosecution at the ICC will afford Libyans a chance to see justice served in a trial that the international community stands behind,"
Considering that the majority of the international community stands behind warrantless detention, sham trials, and arbitrary execution, I'm okay with this.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/20/2011 8:33 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"they hang/shoot/behead him"
Probably all three, Rambler. (I suspect they'll have to hang him before they behead him, but I'm not really an expert in that area. ;-p )
Posted by: Barbara ||
11/20/2011 8:50 Comments ||
Top||
#4
he hoped it would "turn the page on the phase of revolution and will mark the beginning of the building of a state of freedom, law, justice and transparency
Where have we heard this before? Typical BS you hear before a the new dictatorship becomes entrenched.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought cooperation from professionals in holding war crimes trials saying that it would free Bangladesh from another stigma. She said, "No area of the country was spared from their [the war criminals'] atrocities during the Liberation War in 1971 and the people of the country who were subjected to their tortures can never forget that."
The premier was addressing a convention in Bangabandhu on Sunday. She said Bangladesh needs to be freed from the grip of evil forces and that the trial of war criminals is the popular demand.
After the 2001 election, Hasina said, Bangladesh had turned into a land of militancy and terrorism under the leadership of BNPÂ’s ally Jamaat-e-Islami. Since assuming office, the present government has freed the country from the stigma of militancy and thus brightened its image abroad, she added.
Hasina said the leader of the opposition is spreading lies favoring the war criminals and urged professionals to help foil Khaleda Zia's propaganda.
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Saturday advised Taliban to furnish the children with pen and book, instead of preparing them for suicide kabooms and asked them to surrender by disarming themselves and refrain from playing into the hands of the enemy.
He said the government had taken various steps to curb tendencies of extremism and terrorism in the country.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the passport office in Islamgarh town of Mirpur district, he said "We want the youth of Pakistain to carry book and pen instead of the suicide jackets."
AJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed and others also addressed the ceremony.
The Interior Minister said suicide incidents had reduced considerably and law and order had improved to a great extent.
The minister said that following the reconciliatory policy of President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , the country succeeded in achieving speedy progress, stability and prosperity.
Malik recalled that the country was on the verge of destruction when the PPP came into power. The law and order situation was worsening and the economy was in bad shape, he added.
He said the PPP government focused on improving the law and order situation. After relentless efforts of the law enforcing agencies, the terrorism was brought under control, he added.
The minister said efforts were being made to eliminate extremism and terrorism not only from the country but in the region as well.
He reiterated the present government's resolve to take all political parties along while dealing major national issues in the national interest.
He advised the PML-N not to be anguished with the federal government as it was people who had confined it to a province.
He said that those talking of staging 'long-march or short march' will be able to evaluate their position in the coming March (referring to Senate election.)
Expressing solidarity with the people of Jammu & Kashmire on behalf of the people and the Government of Pakistain, Rehman Malik said that Pakistain would continue to extend moral political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris struggle for the right to self-determination.
Earlier the Minister inaugurated the passport office at Islamgarh, the constituency of AJK Prime Minister Ch. Abdul Majeed.
The office will benefit thousands of UK-based Kashmiri expatriates hailing from Islamhgarh and rest of the adjoining areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain Mohammedan League -- Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... threatened to contact the Supreme Court in case a transparent investigation was not carried out into the memo controversy, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to media representatives here on Saturday, Sharif said an inquiry commission should be established with the consent of the opposition so that the issue could reach a logical conclusion.
He suggested that retired judges could be among the members of the commission or the national assembly could also hold an investigation.
Answering a question on the Senate elections, Sharif said he was not afraid of the elections and said they should be held on time.
Moreover, he said there was a need to curb the role of intelligence agencies in politics.
The PML-N leader expressed his concern over the progress of the Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... commission and said the inquiry appeared to be approaching a dead end.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2011 00:00 ||
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Lal Masjid cleric makes a mistake
Reported in Mashriq deputy leader of prayers of Islamabad's famous Lal Masjid, Maulana Amir Siddiqi complained that after he had made a trip to Iran he was receiving death calls. He had gone to Iran in a group of ten religious scholars on the invitation of Iran's Shia Council but forgot that his mosque was aligned with a school of thought that adhered to Al Qaeda and was opposed to Iran.
Another cricketer shows 'real' character
According to Mashriq Pakistan's pace bowler Suhail Tanvir got married (nikah) to a doctor but immediately after the wedding his former wife Nosheen appeared on the scene saying he had secretly married her earlier and had a daughter with her and had not taken permission under law from her for his second marriage. There is one year's prison for violating the law. But the clergy in Pakistan does not accept the law, so he was safe.
Musharraf wanted to hang Nawaz
Former General Ziauddin told daily Pakistan that Musharraf wanted to hang Nawaz Sharif after overthrowing his government in 1999. He had set up the scaffold at Attock Fort and the hangman had also been appointed. He said Nawaz Sharif as prime minister had dismissed Musharraf as army chief and appointed Ziauddin in his place because he knew what Musharraf had planned against Nawaz. Nawaz Sharif was spared because of international pressure.
Jinnah was unhappy with Bahawalpur
Daily Pakistan reported that Jinnah was unhappy with Nawab of Bahawalpur because of his activities and this had resulted in two Hindus trying to kill Jinnah but the plot was foiled just two days before it was to happen. Jinnah was about to take action against the Nawab.
Give women right to marry two men!
Reported in Jinnah Justice (retd) Nasira Iqbal said that men could marry second wife only under certain conditions usually taken to mean that he treat all his wives equally which was not possible according to the Quran. Sharmila Farooqui of PPP said that women too should be given permission to marry a lot of men.
Ah, Pakistan, Land of the Pure: where the impossible is permitted, and the possible is forbidden.
Allama Iqbal and Curse of America
Famous columnist Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that America was on its last legs as the entire world was unhappy with the capitalist system imposed by it. He asserted that Allama Iqbal had warned the nation that it was not right to depend on London and Geneva because these places were in the clutch of the Jews (Panja-e-Yuhud). He also asserted that Western civilisation was on its death bed in its very youth.
Russia and Chechnya
World famous intellectual Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema
Who?
wrote in Jang that he had gone to Russia with a delegation and was received by a famous think tank. There he had the great wisdom of asking the leader of the think tank why Russia, after having given freedom to Uzbekistan and other republics, not allowed Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan the same freedom. (He forgot that new republics were created after the break-up of the Soviet Union; Russia did not break up therefore the above three areas of Russia were not to be freed without breaking up Russia too.)
So this would be that specific definition of great wisdom which means the sum of stupid plus ignorant. Got it.
Secretary petroleum does 'ghul-ghapara'
Reported in Jinnah that federal secretary petroleum became drunk on alcohol during a charity show in Islamabad, took off his shirt to bare his body after which he began to pursue the ladies present on the occasion. He caused a lot of disorder (ghul-ghapara) after which he specially turned his attention to foreigner ladies in hopes of attracting them to his bare body. On this he was overpowered by the guards and made to sit out the function.
Clearly the ladies weren't attracted to his mind, either.
Senior journalist also does 'ghul-ghapara'
Daily Jinnah reported that a senior journalist (hint-hint) and columnist of great fame in Lahore (name withheld) was found doing ghul-ghapara at Lahore's Gymkhana Club. The said journalist whose name could be easily guessed because of his well known inability to hold his drink was most abusive to club members in Chandni Lounge. The club administration was shocked at the fertility of the journalist's brain to produce long and very descriptive abuses.
Aisha is still Hamza's wife!
Daily Mashriq reported that Aisha Ahad Malik was still married to Nawaz Sharif's nephew and son of Punjab chief minister, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif. This was confirmed by the parents of Aisha - Ahad Malik of PMLQ and his wife. Hamza denied that he was married to her.
Saudi Arab wanted Nawaz Sharif as premier
Famous double-game president General Musharraf was quoted in Jinnah as saying that the Saudis wanted him as president of Pakistan provided he kept Nawaz Sharif as prime minister. Saudis got Nawaz to agree that he would stay out of Pakistan for a decade but later it was agreed that he would return but would not demand restoration of the judges nor want President Musharraf removed.
Drone kills Umar Abdur Rehman's son
Reported in Jinnah a drone killed three Arabs in Pakistan including two of them - a son and a grandson of - Umar Abdur Rehman the fiery blind orator-leader of Egypt's Gamaa Islamiyya serving a long sentence in America since 1995 for plotting to blow up the American Trade Centre through Ramzi Yusuf who is also serving a long sentence.
Maulvi Faqir calls Pakistan 'ghulam'
Quoted in Mashriq deputy chief of the Taliban Maulvi Faqir Muhammad said that it was no use talking to Pakistan because it was a slave (ghulam) of America. He said America was losing the war in Afghanistan and was therefore deceptively talking about peace with the Taliban. He denied that he had recently visited India; nor was he killing Pakistanis at the behest of India.
India cannot be 'most favoured'
Famous columnist Tanvir Qaiser Shahid wrote in Express that India could not be granted the title of Most Favoured Nation (pasandida tareen mulk) because it had inflicted so much cruelty on Pakistan. How could it be acceptable to the armed forces of Pakistan and how can it be acceptable that our army chief invites foreign guests to his meetings only to have them say in public that the army was in agreement with the award of MFN to India.
Kick America out!
World famous spy-master and intellectual Hamid Gul told Nawa-e-Waqt that if Afghanistan could beat up the US (maar-bhagaana) and throw it out of its territory, why couldn't Pakistan do it? He said Pakistan should stop the greatly expensive equipment of the US leaving Afghanistan through Pakistan, which Pakistan should confiscate.
A new slant on 'halala'
Daily Jinnah reported that chief of the world renowned madrassa of Karachi Jamia Banuria chief Mufti Naeem said that the contracting of second marriage by Suhail Tanvir without the permission of his first wife was a kind of halala (making permissible) which was allowed by Islam. He said Islam did not make second marriage or more conditional to taking permission from the first wife. Normally halala means remarrying first wife after first marrying her to another man, who is usually a cleric, complete with consummation of marriage through sleeping with the said cleric.
* PACIFICNEWSCENTER [Guam K-57] > VIDEO: WHITE HOUSE SAYS MARINE ROTATION THRU DARWIN WILL NOT TAKEAWAY FROM MARINE BUILDUP ON GUAM; + WHITE HOUSE: DARWIN MARINE DEAL SEPARATE FROM + WON'T AFFECT FUTENMA REALIGNMENT.
* TOPIX > TAIPEI: JAPAN TO DEPLOY [SDF = Military] FORCES NEAR DISPUTED TAOYUTAI ISLANDS [close to Taiwan].
Besides as per Taiwan, Artic also read, NIPPON DETERRING + PROTECTING THE SENKAKUS; + PUSHING CPLAN OPERATIONS SOUTHWARD.
First Mama Russia, now Nippon = FLYING FISH/DRAGON ISLE.
* NEWS KERALA > CHINA COULD OVERTAKE US ECONOMY BY 2027 [or earlier], SAYS GOLDMAN-SACHS' JIM O'NEIL, whom also argues that the formerly "emerging" BRIC economies should properly be considered "growth" economies now.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA REBUFFS US, ASIA PRESSURE IN SEA DISPUTE.
ARTIC = WEN JIABAO = 'Twas NOT proper for POTUS Obama to bring up the South China Sea issues at the East Asia Summit in Bali.
CMF BLOGGER = believes that the US Marines are mainly there in AUS to watch/monitor INDONESIA.
IIUC, SINO-INDONES Diplomatic + PLA activities, + Radical Islam's threat of jihad vee Indonesia agz the Philippines + SE Asia.
* SAME > OBAMA'S PACIFIC TOUR: SOUTH CHINA SEA CHANGE. COMPETITION STOKES NATIONALISM IN BOTH SIDES OF AN OCEAN.
ARTIC > JAPANESE ANALYSTS = By its actions per the disputed South China Seas + elsewhere in East Asia, China desires to develop + build up its POWER OF INTERVENTION [unilateral] UP TO THE "SECOND ISLAND CHAIN", includ agz the US Territory of Guam.
* SAME > ASIA-PACIFIC: AMERICA'S ANTI-CHINA ALLIANCE.
* BHARAT RAKSHAK > THE [US] ASIAN SURGE CONTINUES.
Islamic Jihad said Sunday it was considering running in Palestinian general elections after firmly boycotting all previous polls. Nafez Azzam, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad movement, said, "Our clear positions do not prevent us from holding a debate inside the movement to study recent developments, including the possibility of running in the upcoming elections."
The final decision to stand in parliamentary elections is not yet made, he stressed.
The Islamic Jihad's position comes before a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Mashaal. Abbas and Mashaal will try to implement a reconciliation agreement brokered by Egypt last May. The agreement envisions a technocratic government ruling Gaza and the West Bank until elections, initially expected in May 2012.
[An Nahar] Syria's president has reached "a point of no return" and faces the same fate as former despots in Libya and Iraq, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday.
"I think that he went beyond the point of no return, no way that he will he resume his authority or legitimacy," Barak told a defense summit, predicting Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Despoiler of Deraa... regime could fall within months under growing international pressure.
"And it's clear to me that what happened a few weeks ago to Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... ... and what happened ultimately to Saddam Hussein, now might await him," he said.
Former Libyan strongman Moammar Qadaffy was killed on October 20 when forces of Libya's new regime captured his hometown of Sirte. Saddam Hussein was hanged in December 2006 after being sentenced for the deaths of 148 Iraqi Shiites deaths in the early 1980s.
The U.N. says a crackdown in Syria has killed more than 3,500 people since mid-March.
Across the country on Saturday, at least 17 people were killed, according to activists, as an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... deadline for Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... to stop its lethal crackdown on dissent was set to expire.
Syria has been told by its Arab peers to stop the lethal repression against protesters by midnight (22:00 GMT) on Saturday or risk sanctions, and the vaporous Arab League has already suspended it from the 22-member bloc.
With rebel troops inflicting mounting losses on the regular army, Turkey and the United States both raised the specter of civil war and Russia called for restraint.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Head of Iran's High Council for Human Rights Mohammad-Javad Larijani says Israel is a "renegade" entity and a "racist regime."
In a heated television debate aired on the American channel MSNBC, he further noted that the Tel Aviv regime is "source of all tension in the [Middle East] region."
Larijani also added that Washington is the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism.
"The United States of America is the largest and the greatest country supporting terrorism," he added, noting that "the record of terrorist activity which is supported by tax money of these people is enormous."
Turning to the latest report of ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano on Iran's nuclear program, Larijani said the IAEA allegations were "laughable" and "based on a document put to us four years ago."
Larijani said that the whole issue was closed at that time because of "totally inconclusive evidence."
The Iranian human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... official stressed that Iran's transparency on its nuclear program exceeded that of Western nations and there was "no single secret activity" concealed from international inspectors.
Larijani added that Iran was not interested in producing nuclear weapons because that would be "against the Islamic code."
He called nuclear weapons "more liability than asset for us" and said the country's "military muscle is strong enough to repel or deter any imminent threat."
Larijani said the US is just trying to demonize Iran because Tehran has "fantastic relations" with all of its neighbors.
Regarding the nuclear issue, the Iranian rights official went on to highlight Iran's nuclear transparency and pointed out that despite possessing nuclear weapons Israel discloses no details of its program.
The debate followed adoption of the latest anti-Iranian resolution by the IAEA Board of Governors on Friday which voices "deep and increasing concern" over Tehran's nuclear program."
The resolution, however, stopped short of reporting Iran to the UN Security Council or setting Tehran a deadline to comply.
The US, Israel and their allies accuse Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program and have used this allegation as a pretext to convince the UN Security Council to impose four rounds of sanctions on Iran.
Tehran has categorically refuted Western allegations, saying that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to acquire and develop atomic technology for peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/20/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Over the years I came to the conclusion that the only way for Israel to survive is to start doing some of the things that we're, routinely, accused of.
#2
You have a point, but it needs to be clarified.
In its, what can best be described as a "guilt-ridden" attitude of government behavior, Israel does not follow "international norms."
And I do not mean "international norms" in any good sense. I mean that when faced with problems like an intransigent, hateful, violent and murderous minority, almost every other country in the world would respond in kind, either driving out the repulsive minority, or so heavily punishing it that it cannot continue its bad behavior.
But Israel will give just the current combatant Palestinians a gentle slap and ask them to behave. This is as annoying to the rest of the nations of the world as a parent who refuses to discipline their young child's tantrum in a restaurant.
"Now sweetie pie, it's not nice to throw food and tableware at people. Please settle down and stop screaming, and I'll give you some more nice food. Ow! Snookums, you stabbed me in the knee with your knife, at that hurt! I'm very disappointed in you. Waitress, would you give my little one a new knife? Where did you get another lighter? It's not nice to set people's clothing on fire, I wish you would stop doing that!"
And all the time, all of "snookums" little friends are banging on the picture window of the restaurant, egging "snookums" on.
[An Nahar] Contacts between Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... and the parliamentary majority have not been severed, stated a source from the majority to al-Joumhouriya newspaper in remarks published on Saturday. Didn't offer him enough, huh? It's not worth it, seeing as how he wouldn't stay bought...
It added however that contact between the Druze leader and Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... has been severed for the time being.
Furthermore, it stressed that the positions of some National Struggle Front ministers and MPs "don't necessarily reflect those of Jumblat."
It revealed that the MP is currently focusing on the ongoing regional and international developments and ways to fortify the Lebanese internal scene against them.
Ministerial sources told the newspaper that the MP will not withdraw his ministers from the government or leave the parliamentary majority.
"It's true that his position on Syria does not coincide with the rest of the majority, but he has not changed his stand on the resistance or the majority," they noted.
In addition, sources closed to Jumblat said that the PSP leader supports keeping Najib Miqati as prime minister and for providing the appropriate conditions for keeping him in his role "due to a lack of alternatives at the moment."
They voiced his fears of security repercussions taking place in Leb because of the developments in Syria, "especially since he believes that the crisis in Syria will take some time."
He is also concerned that the crisis will take on a violent turn with the eruption of sectarian disputes, which will affect Leb.
"This is why he is keen on introducing political calm in Leb and ease the tensions order to keep Leb away from the Syrian events," they stressed.
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[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... said on Saturday that the war is ongoing in Syria because the stated demands for reform are not the real motives behind war.
"It is important to respond to the international media outlets that are reporting incidents opposite to the facts on ground," Aoun said during a meeting with a European Catholic delegation.
He discussed with the delegation, which spent a week in Syria between Homs, Banias and Hama, the latest developments in Syria.
According to a statement by the FPM media relations department, the delegation slammed the satellite channel al-Jazeera for "publishing incorrect reports," suggesting to "establish a television network to refute all the lies."
The revolt in Syria has deepened the rift between the March 8-dominated government and the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... -led opposition.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown on dissent, the U.N. human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... office said, deploring the slaughter that went on despite a peace plan.
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[Al Ahram] Iraq now has a Shiite-led government, but was ruled by members of the country's Sunni minority for most of its history. Syria is ruled by minority Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while protesters demanding reforms are largely from its Sunni majority.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in the conflict, according to UN figures.
Iraq has trod carefully in its response to the violence, and was the only country to abstain from a November 12 vote to suspend Syria from the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... . "Our country is deeply confessionally divided, and the Shiites voted for (Syrian President) Bashir al-Assad," reacting along sectarian lines, said Hamid Fadhel, a professor of politics at Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... University.
"Sectarian divisions are already a reality here, with the desire of politicians to create Sunni and Shiite regions," Fadhel said of moves by Sunni-majority Salaheddin province, and earlier by Shiite-majority Basra, to form autonomous regions.
"The same thing that is happening here will arrive in Syria. Syria will be like Iraq and Leb," he said.
Various Iraqi Shiite leaders have said they support the freedom of the Syrian people, but at the same time condemned the vaporous Arab League suspension of Syria on Wednesday.
"Suspending Syria's membership in the Arab League came in an unacceptable way," Iraq government front man Ali al-Dabbagh said on Iraqiya television.
"We want complete freedom for (Syrians), but not in this forced way that moves the Syrian issue... to internationalisation," he said. "This issue is very dangerous."
Iraq's anti-US Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... said in a recent statement on Syria that "we support your demonstrations to show your opinion."
But at the same time he asserted that there is "a big difference" between events in Syria and other Arab states that have seen anti-regime protests this year, as "Bashir al-Assad is against the American and Israeli presence and his attitudes are clear."
Ali al-Saffar, an Iraq analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, said Iraqi leaders fear instability in Syria spilling over into Iraq, but that Storied Baghdad's position on Syria risks increasing domestic sectarian divisions.
"I think they (Iraqi leaders) to some extent fear Assad being tossed will empower the Sunni majority, and that if there was any instability, that that could spill over... into Iraq," Saffar said.
Syria and Iraq share a 605-kilometre (375-mile) border, and Sunni-majority provinces along the frontier were strongholds of resistance against United States forces and the Shiite-led Iraqi governments that have followed the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
Saffar noted that Storied Baghdad's position on Syria is at odds with its strong condemnation of a crackdown by Bahrain's Sunni government on protests led by the kingdom's Shiite-majority in March.
"The Iraqi government took a very strong stance against the violence in Bahrain, or at least it made the right noises back then," Saffar said, which contrasts sharply with its stance on Syria.
"It's going to be very difficult for the Iraqi government to venture, actually, that this is not a sectarian move, and that there are actually internal security implications that they're taking into consideration," he said, referring to Iraq's stance on Syria.
And if the government "is not managing to convince the Iraqi Sunnis that... this isn't a sectarian issue," he said, "then I think it's going to spread the (division) along Iraqi sectarian lines."
Political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari, meanwhile, said he believes Iraq is concerned by the stances of Sunni-ruled Gulf countries.
"Concerned that certain movements that are hostile to the political system in Syria and linked to Gulf states are becoming predominant, Iraq wants to impress upon those countries that it oppose their desire to intensify the crisis in Syria," Shammari said.
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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.
A classified booklet containing President Obama's Australian itinerary down to the minute, as well as details of his security convoy and the mobile phone numbers of dozens of senior US and Australian officials, was found by The Age on a Canberra street yesterday morning. The booklet, Overall Program and Orders of Arrangements, for the president's visit, was found by a reporter in a gutter about 100 meters from the front entrance to Parliament.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought cooperation from professionals in holding war crimes trials saying that it would free Bangladesh from another stigma. She said, "No area of the country was spared from their [the war criminals'] atrocities during the Liberation War in 1971 and the people of the country who were subjected to their tortures can never forget that."
Asif Ali 
Nawaz Sharif
Lal Masjid cleric makes a mistake
Russia and Chechnya
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Walid 
Najib Miqati
[An Nahar] 
Michel Aoun
Moqtada 
