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14 alleged Islamic extremists detained in Belgium
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Page 6: Politix
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Africa Horn
US wants to open Somali waters to navies
Washington is circulating a proposal that would allow military forces to enter Somali territory in pursuit of pirates, UN sources say.
We need permission?
Why? Is the Somali navy gonna come out and stop us?
A senior diplomat with the UN Security Council said the United States has distributed a text to the other permanent members of the world body -- Britain, France, Russia and China -- that outlines its proposal.

The diplomats are discussing a proposal that would expand on existing powers national navies have to enter Somalia's territorial waters, including an initiative that could allow military forces to chase pirates onto sovereign Somali land in "hot pursuit," the sources said.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on December 2 that extended the permission of other nations to enter Somali waters for another 12 months.

The latest US initiative may be seen as a further response to a crisis that has "clearly escalated," according to a senior UN diplomat.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Make it a free fire zone.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/11/2008 7:56 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought the Somali Govt. already asked for help?

So we still need the UN to say its ok?
I wish those idiots flew their jets into that building on 9/11.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 14:42 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Uganda: President Museveni urges rebel chief Kony to sign peace deal
(SomaliNet) Saying the Lord's Resistance Army boss has been told all about plans to lift an international arrest warrant against him, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged fugitive rebel Joseph Kony to sign a final peace deal.

LRA chief, Kony has demanded International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments for him and his top deputies be scrapped before they quit forest hideouts in northeastern Congo and end two decades of conflict that have destabilised a swathe of central Africa.

"President Yoweri Museveni has urged...Kony to come out and sign the peace accord," Museveni's office said in a statement late on Monday.

Uganda's government has pledged to ask the UN Security Council to suspend the ICC warrants after Kony lays down his arms. But the self-proclaimed prophet remains suspicious.

Museveni ...
I think they mean Kony ...
... is wanted by prosecutors in The Hague for his role in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people, driven two million more from their homes and destabilised neighbouring parts of volatile eastern Congo and oil-producing south Sudan.

Uganda, Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) agreed in principle in June to launch joint military operations against the guerrillas if Kony did not sign. Experts say there would be no easy victory against battle-hardened LRA troops who are skilled at launching hit-and-run attacks on much larger, better-equipped forces.

The DRC army is tied up fighting its own insurgents further south in the Kivu region, while UN peacekeepers in eastern Congo are overstretched and haunted by a botched raid on the LRA in 2006 that killed eight Guatemalan commandos.

The chief mediator in Uganda's peace talks, south Sudan's vice-president Riek Machar, said there was now little appetite in Kampala or Kinshasa for a fresh assault on the rebels. "Kony is deep in the Congo...none of them really wanted to discuss any military action," he said in southern Sudan's capital Juba after returning from meetings in DRC and Uganda. "Generally they seemed to accept a policy of peaceful containment of the belligerency," he told reporters, adding Museveni would try to contact the LRA leader directly.

Machar's talks were thrown into disarray in April when Kony refused to attend a signing ceremony on the remote south Sudan-Congo border. At a rare meeting with Ugandan elders in the area late last month, he again declined to ink the deal.

This year Kony's fighters - notorious for mutilating survivors and kidnapping thousands of children - have also trekked north to attack villages in Central African Republic.-
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Church of England Approves Anti Israel Christmas Carol
Ron Prosor, Israel's Ambassador in Britain lashed out against the Church of England on Wednesday for having approved an anti-Israel carol that was sung as part of a service, according to the Times of London....

The carol Twelve Days of Christmas was sung as: "Twelve assassinations/Eleven homes demolished/Ten wells obstructed/Nine sniper towers/Eight gunships firing/Seven checkpoints blocking/Six tanks a-rolling/Five settlement rings. Four falling bombs/Three trench guns/Two trampled doves/And an uprooted olive tree."

"It was appalling to see a church allow one of its most endearing seasonal traditions to be hijacked by hatred," Prosor told the Times, accusing the Church of having failed to condemn such a carol which provokes anti-Semitism and disregards years of efforts to bridge gaps between the two religions.
Posted by: mhw || 12/11/2008 09:22 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is to be expected. The CoE is no longer a Christian Church.
Posted by: Ebbusoter Darling of the Brontosaurs5211 || 12/11/2008 10:31 Comments || Top||

#2  If this is allowed to stand it crosses a line (for me) from which there is no return.

Once upon a time I harbored a warm and fuzzy feeling for a a formerly great country that gave birth to the USA. Not so much anymore.
Posted by: MarkZ || 12/11/2008 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I attend an Episcopal church and we are tied to this bunch of lunatics. If I were in the church the day this crap was sung I would have been standing up and booing. I would have then lambasted the "priest" for letting such idiocy take place. What fools.
Posted by: remoteman || 12/11/2008 14:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I would have then lambasted the "priest" for letting such idiocy take place.

That happens - and people walk out, sometimes to never return. The CoE is infested with Leftist shiesters - it won't be the first institution to suffer this ugly fate and nor will it be the last.

To suggest that the singing of these moronic carol lyrics represents mainstream British opinion is like a Brit saying they have no respect for the USA because people go and listen to the likes of Jeremiah White week after week...
Posted by: Bulldog || 12/11/2008 14:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Looks to me more like the annual 12 Days of Christmas Shopping list.
So much to do and '..lordy,lordy, just look at the time. I really have to hurry now....'
Probably a good thing that Corrie doesn't rhyme with anything in there or they would work in a St Pancake reference.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 12/11/2008 14:40 Comments || Top||

#6  He ain't white, he's Wright.

And I think the clergy should be pilloried for having that song sung with either set of lyrics. It's profane and repetitive. Philip Glass with a melody.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/11/2008 14:41 Comments || Top||

#7  It looks more anti-Zionist than anti-Semite to me,
there is a difference.
But it is still in EXTREMELY poor taste for a Christmas Carol and totally outrageous for the C of E to have done or condoned.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 14:56 Comments || Top||

#8  I have had it with this church.

Pope, this church is not one of yours. Ensure they know this.
Posted by: newc || 12/11/2008 16:17 Comments || Top||

#9  Pope, this church is not one of yours. Ensure they know this.

I think all parties have been aware of that since 1534.
Posted by: Bulldog || 12/11/2008 17:03 Comments || Top||

#10  It's because of nonsense like this that the African branch of the church is gaining so many adherents, both as individuals and as congregations. As for those in the C of E who choose such things, they were already going to burn in the deepest of the nether hells for betraying their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 17:37 Comments || Top||

#11  It looks more anti-Zionist than anti-Semite to me,
there is a difference.


Yep, it's like hating rednecks morons without hating Americans.
Posted by: .5MT || 12/11/2008 18:06 Comments || Top||

#12  The statistics show that anti-Zionism is merely a way station to full blown antisemitism. It's a difference of degree rather than kind.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 18:53 Comments || Top||

#13  Would they get offended if, say, an Irish bar in Boston decided to modify the lyrics to suit the Troubles?
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 12/11/2008 18:55 Comments || Top||

#14  Wasn't it the archbishop of the Church of England who wanted to adopt Sharia Law?
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/11/2008 20:27 Comments || Top||

#15  TW, that comment about the eternal destination of those in the C of E who do such things was extremely percipient of you. It's a rare thing to find such awareness coming from members of the "senior circuit," as it were, and I want you to know I appreciate it all the more because it came from you.

And yes, I completely share that sentiment. They will have a lot of issues for which they will be called to account.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/11/2008 23:28 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea nuclear talks hit stalemate
US's special envoy to the six-party talks says negotiators have failed to make any progress over the nuclear disarmament of North Korea.

The US envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on Wednesday that the six nations involved had made no progress on how to verify North Korea's account of its nuclear activity. Hill was speaking after the third and last day in the current round of discussions in Beijing.

"It's not trending in the right direction in terms of coming up with a verification agreement," he told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday. "We don't seem to be narrowing the differences."

The Chinese had earlier circulated a draft agreement to address the verification issue, but this reportedly failed to win the approval of all parties concerned. Discussions in the Chinese capital Beijing are focused on the exact wording of a Chinese-drafted protocol to monitor Pyongyang's nuclear activities.

It remains unclear how long the talks will last as they were originally scheduled to run for three days, starting on Monday. However, the envoys were scheduled to meet again Thursday morning, said Cho Yun-soo, a spokesman for the South Korean delegation, AP reported.

The United States, China, North and South Koreas, Russia and Japan took part in the six-nation talks. They were expected to discuss the issue of sampling at the North's nuclear sites as well.

Pyongyang says sampling violates its sovereignty and is not part of a disarmament-for-aid deal reached at the talks.

Hill had said earlier that sampling is "the core focus" of efforts to verify North Korea's disclosures about its atomic work. The two sides now differ on the terms of verification that were agreed upon as part of the previous deal.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Again?
Posted by: gorb || 12/11/2008 1:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Still.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Are they serving lunch at these talks? That may be the problem. My advice is to make lunch a bring-your-own affair and hold off serving food until the celebratory banquet at the *successful* conclusion of negotiations.
Posted by: SteveS || 12/11/2008 10:25 Comments || Top||

#4  It bought them another month of breathing room.
That was the only real point of this last exchange.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 14:36 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Terrorism charges against Georgians detailed
Atlanta terrorism defendants Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee communicated with and gave information to terrorists bent on waging violent jihad, according to new indictments by a federal grand jury.

In newly amended indictments against each man, prosecutors added information on the breadth of the defendantsÂ’ communications before their arrests two years ago. Both men are charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. That includes their trying, in 2005, to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group that India blames for the bloody three-day siege of Mumbai last month.

Ahmed and Sadequee have pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately. AhmedÂ’s trial is set for June 1 in federal court in Atlanta. Sadequee is to stand trial next August. They are being held without bond.

Ahmed’s lawyer, Jack Martin, said the new indictment does not substantially change the allegations against Ahmed or his defense. “And, once again,” Martin added, “it’s quite clear from the indictment there’s no allegation he committed any terrorist act or act of violence whatsoever.” Don Samuel, a lawyer for Sadequee, said his client will plead not guilty to this indictment as well. “Nobody’s heard our side yet,” he said. “The grand jury hears only the government’s side of the story.”

During an April 2005 trip to Washington, Ahmed, a former Georgia Tech student, and Sadequee, of Roswell, recorded amateurish videos of “symbolic and infrastructure targets for potential terrorist attacks,” said the indictment. In one video, Ahmed and Sadequee pass the Pentagon as they drive toward Washington. “This is where our brothers attacked the Pentagon,” Sadequee says on the video, the indictment said. The videos were sent to Aabid Hussein Khan, who is in prison in England for possessing articles for terrorism.

According to TuesdayÂ’s indictment, when he was arrested in June 2006, Khan had the videos recorded by Ahmed and Sadequee. Khan also had maps and timetables for the Washington and New York public transit systems; information on truck routes into New York; schematics of the financial district in lower Manhattan; aerial photos of the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and information on paramilitary training camps in Pakistan, the indictment said.

Separately, the new indictment said, between August 2005 and April 2006, Sadequee was in contact with a number of supporters of violent jihad. They included Mirsad Bektasevic, who was arrested in Bosnia Herzegovina in October 2005 after being found with more than 20 pounds of plastic explosives, firearms, bomb-making materials and a manifesto promising an attack on Western interests, the indictment said.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/11/2008 05:17 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Court to decide on Ashcroft's immunity
Oooops. They spelled it wrong. A-S-H-K-K-K-R-O-F-T. That's better...
The US Supreme Court will decide on whether cabinet-level officials will be immune from a lawsuit from war on terror victims. The nine Supreme Court justices are set to make a ruling by June 2009.

Former attorney general John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller have sought immunity from the charges in a lawsuit filed by Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani national. Iqbal was among more than 700 Muslim men from the New York City area rounded up after the September 11, 2001 attacks. While they were all eventually charged with immigration violations or minor crimes, none was linked to terrorism.

Iqbal is suing Ashcroft and Mueller, amongst others, for targeting the men for investigation and punitive detention, sidestepping procedural protections usually granted to such detainees. Iqbal, who was held at a maximum security section of a Brooklyn federal prison, says he was subjected to harsh treatment and discrimination and that federal officials classified him as a "high interest" suspect because he was a Muslim from Pakistan.

A June 2003 report by the Department of Justice inspector general found "significant problems" in the treatment of detainees like Iqbal.

Iqbal's lawsuit says Ashcroft and Mueller approved the policy of holding post-September 11 detainees in solitary confinement. Lawyers for Ashcroft and Mueller say their clients have "qualified immunity" from this lawsuit and similar ones because they were not personally involved in the detainee mistreatment and did not know about Iqbal.

Some critics have assailed Ashcroft over the Patriot Act, the legislation that broadened law enforcement powers after September 11, saying it did so at the expense of civil liberties.
Congress passed the Patriot Act. A large majority of Democrats voted for it. How come Ashcroft is in the cross-hairs?
Because he held prayer sessions with his staff, maybe. I still hear people in my state fume about those horrible evangelicals that ruined our liberties.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The 700 were here illegally. It took a while to process their cases, and in the meantime they were kept sequestered from legal society. If the Supreme Court rules against Mr. Ashcroft for attempting to enforce the laws of the country, I shall be severely disappointed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 8:30 Comments || Top||

#2  How come Ashcroft is in the cross-hairs?

He held high offices as a Republican. To the media/legal/academic fifth column, that's sufficient reason.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 12/11/2008 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  While they were all eventually charged with immigration violations or minor crimes, none was linked to terrorism.

And they got Al Capone on income tax evasion. If it's legit, it's legit.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2008 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  As I remember, the whole country, red and blue state alike, were freaked out and howling for blood after 9/11. This will be a good test to see if we are going to sustain the war on our enemies.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 14:40 Comments || Top||

#5  This will be a good test to see if we are going to sustain the war on our enemies.

Technically, that would include the Anti-America neo-commie academia within our own borders.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/11/2008 21:42 Comments || Top||

#6  This will be a good indicator for the Dems and their intentions to put everyone, read Repubs, on trial that they dont like....
Posted by: 49 Pan || 12/11/2008 23:39 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
PM renews pledge to prosecute Mumbai terrorists
.(AKI) - Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, has assured India that Islamabad will take action against terror suspects linked to the devastating Mumbai attacks in November. He also said that he was ready to send a Pakistani delegation to India to help police with their investigations.

Speaking to the media at Multan Airport on Wednesday, Gillani said that Pakistan was a responsible country and did not want to reach any conclusions without any investigation.

Pakistan has confirmed the arrest of two commanders from Lashkar-e-Toiba, Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi and Maulana Masood Azhar, blamed by India for Mumbai attacks last month.

But many observers question the government's resolve to investigate the attacks. Pakistan never charged Masood Azhar after he was arrested for a deadly attack on India's Parliament in December 2001. He was later freed.

Relations between Pakistan and India have been strained since India accused militant groups of involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks in India's financial centre, which killed more that 170 people and injured over 300. "I cannot comment until the investigations are completed. The law-enforcement agencies are holding investigations," Gillani said.

The Pakistani prime minister also played down media reports that the Indian air force had been put on high alert and pledged to use diplomacy to defuse tensions with India.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Pakistan to proscribe Jamat-ud-Daawa if asked by UN Security Council
(APP): Vowing to take firm action against those involved in Mumbai attacks, Pakistan told the UN Security Council on Tuesday evening that it would proscribe Jamat-ud-Daawa (JUD) should the 15-member body decide to put sanctions on the group for being associated with terrorism.

"After the designation of Jamat-ud-Daawa (JUD) under (Security Council resolution) 1267, the Government, on receiving communication from the Security Council, shall proscribe the JUD and take other consequential actions, as required, including the freezing of assets," Pakistan's UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said in the course of a council debate on 'Threats to international peace and security cause by terrorists'.

Other actions outlined by the Ambassador Haroon included a plan for effective government supervision as required for various welfare organizations.

He said an intelligence-led operation was already underway to arrest the individuals allegedly involved in the Mumbai attacks. No training camps for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba or any other such entity would be allowed on the Pakistani territory.

"The above measures, which are in process, constitute further proof of Pakistan's determination to take action and not to allow its territory to be used for terrorism," he added.

Ambassador Haroon spoke after India demanded that the United Nations ban the Jamat-ud-Dawaa, calling it a front organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) for its involvement in the Mumbai strikes.

"We have requested the Security Council to proscribe the Pakistani group Jamaat-ud-Dawa since it is a terrorist outfit," Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed said in the debate. "All those who were in any way responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attacks, wherever they may be, should be brought to justice," he said.

In his well-reasoned speech, Ambassador Haroon said both Pakistan and India were victims of terrorism, and suggested that the best response to such acts was for both countries to cooperate more closely in efforts to combat the scourge and to resolve the decades-old conflict in Kashmir.

He assured the Council that Pakistan was not involved in the attacks in any way and was taking action against extremist groups who sought, in any way, to destroy the peace of the country and its neighbours.

The Pakistan ambassador said he was deeply troubled by the events in Mumbai, as well as, a few days later, similar violence in Peshawar, in his own country, which he said showed the common experience of all States that were victims of terrorism.

President Asif Ali Zardari, he added, had pledged to bring to justice anyone found to have been involved in those attacks, quoting extensively from Zardari's article in Monday's New York Times.

Not only was Pakistan not involved in the attacks in any way, but it, too, was subject to such attacks, and had taken action against extremist groups who sought, in any way, to destroy the peace of the country and its neighbours, he said. In that context, he was a bit surprised by the strong denouement of the Indian statement. The best response to the Mumbai carnage was to cooperate in the struggle and to support Pakistan's fight against terrorism. Terrorist acts against Pakistani citizens had originated in India, as well.

The Government of Pakistan had already instigated an investigation, on its own, of the Mumbai attacks, and prepared a strategy to arrest individuals found to be part of those attacks and to provide effective supervision of various welfare organizations that could have provided support. His Government had also reached out in various ways to India.

In the broader fight against terrorism, he said, it was crucial to formulate comprehensive strategies. Simplistic approaches would only create more problems.

Initiatives to promote international harmony were critical, as well as political solutions to long, unresolved conflicts such as Kashmir and Palestine, and as appropriate solutions to other root causes, the Pakistan ambassador said. He also stressed the need to strengthen democracy around the world and, most importantly, the need for the international community to stand united.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
"Slaughter the Jews Like You Did in 1929"
Posted by: tipper || 12/11/2008 00:35 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Such lovely people.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/11/2008 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  The Jews could turn this back on them by calling on the Jordanian Bedouins to "Put their dogs back in their cages." The Bedouins hold the Paleos in the same high regard as sewer rats, and the Paleos know it.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/11/2008 8:59 Comments || Top||

#3  I realize that Muslims have a weak grasp of modern history - ironic for a people so given to wanking over historical grievances, but one might argue that the various pogroms and massacres of Jews are what lead to the creation of the state of Israel. Are you sure you want to do that all over again?
Posted by: SteveS || 12/11/2008 10:29 Comments || Top||

#4  The Israeli's should have a plan and have it ready to go if there is another attack (such as a war or 9/11 style attack). The plan should include taking over Syria and putting the Kurds or some other group in charge, and it should include displacing the Palestinians into Gaza and Jordan and sealing the border behind them.

This whole thing would have ended if they did such a thing following the 73 war when the world was in shock. Instead the Israeli's did the "right" thing and the world quickly forgot.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/11/2008 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Jordanians and Paleos don't get along any better than Jews and Paleos. Somehow gives me the idea that it's a Paleo thing.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/11/2008 12:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Paleos don't get along with anyone, including each other. They're a truly worthless lot.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 12/11/2008 13:37 Comments || Top||

#7  There is a reason the Jordanians have sealed the border for the last 40 years with the Paleos.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/11/2008 14:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Yup, the Egyptians don't have any use for them either. They should have gotten on with their lives 40 years ago, but no, they are still pissing and moaning and calling themselves 'refugees'.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 14:34 Comments || Top||

#9  But the truth is if the Paleos and Jordanians/Egyptians kill each other nobody will notice or care. THus it is the best solution.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/11/2008 16:10 Comments || Top||

#10  In fairness to the Palestinians, they thought of themselves as Arabs only, until the rest of the Arab world made it clear that they existed on sufferance only so long as they called themselves Palestinians and groomed themselves to be cannon fodder. Since 1948 none of the Arab countries nearby permitted those who fled to them to settle outside the refugee camps.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/11/2008 18:07 Comments || Top||

#11  If only they had been more clear and said "Slaughter the Zionists", but no, they went all generic.
Posted by: .5MT || 12/11/2008 18:21 Comments || Top||

#12  Jordanians and Paleos don't get along any better than Jews and Paleos.

No kidding.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/11/2008 19:24 Comments || Top||


UN Council condemns Israel for human rights
But...
Forget it, Jake. It's the UN...

Israel came under fire Tuesday from the United Nations for human rights violations in the Palestinian territories which the UN called a "crime against humanity" while urging the Jewish state to end its crippling blockade on the Gaza strip.
My work is done here.
Waiter! More wine!

An international panel of the U.N. Human Rights Council called on Israel to end its ongoing blockade on the Gaza Strip and to release Arab detainees on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

The U.N. expert on human rights in the territories, Richard Falk said that "such a flurry of denunciations by normally cautious U.N. officials has not occurred on a global level since the heyday of South African apartheid."
So where did Mr. U.N. expert on human rights in the territories say this from? Geneva?
"And still Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease," he added.
Or so I've been told...
In his report Falk urged Israel to stop "physical and mental torture" inflicted on Arab prisoners and to endorse the U.N. Convention against Torture by ending all forms of "cruel, inhuman and degrading" punishment.
...unless they like it.
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And the players are:
Brazil
France
Gabon
Ghana
Guatemala
Japan
Mali
Pakistan
Peru
Republic of Korea
Romania
Sri Lanka
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Zambia
Posted by: logi_cal || 12/11/2008 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Any comments from these guys on the human rights violations inherent in the rhetoric of the "oppressed"?
Posted by: gorb || 12/11/2008 1:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Does it say anywhere that Israel has to support the Paleostains? Cause the UN seems to think they should be giving them food, fuel, medicine, money.
I don't see what the crime is in simply closing the door, they have neighbors on every other side that could route aid to them.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 17:19 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Malaysia: 9/11 terror suspect freed in north
(AKI) - The Malaysian government has released five terror suspects, including Yazid Sufaat, who was accused of aiding terrorists during the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. Interior Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Sufaat, allegedly linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group, was released from the Kamunting detention centre in the northern Malaysian state of Perak.

"He was considered a threat to public security in Malaysia because he was part of Jemaah Islamiyah, trying to establish an Islamic government within the region," said Albar. "Yazid Sufaat and four others were released on 4 December".

However, Malaysian Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said Sufaat was released with another Malaysian on 24 November. "We released him as he had shown remorse and repentance after almost seven years of rehabilitation," said Hassan quoted by Malaysian English language daily The Star.
Oh. Well. I guess it's okay then.
"He was released on several conditions. He has to report to the police regularly and cannot leave Selangor without police permission. Our officers will also be monitoring him as well as several others who have been released over the past years to ensure they do not go back to their old ways,'' he said.
And let that be a lesson to ya, me boy. Get on home now...
Sufaat, arrested in December 2001, is accused of having housed several of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks when he lived in the United States. The terrorists allegedly used his house as a meeting place for Al-Qaeda members. Among those who visited his house were 9/11 attackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. Both were named by the American FBI as the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon in Washington.

Sufaat was also accused by US authorities of helping convicted 9/11 conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui.

The other suspects that were released include two Thai separatists and two Malaysians suspected of aiding foreign intelligence groups.

Jemaah Islamiyah is widely considered South-East Asia's most dangerous terrorist organisation and responsible for the Bali bombings that killed 202 people in 2002.
This article starring:
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Nawaf al-Hazmi
Yazid Sufaat
Zacharias Moussaoui
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We released him as he had shown remorse and repentance after almost seven years of rehabilitation,"

Well....I feel better.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/11/2008 15:02 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Obama to change US policy on Iran
A senior advisor to US president-elect Barack Obama says the White House's approach to Iran will undergo a 'big change' in the future.

William M. Drozdiak, who was delivering a speech in Berlin, also highlighted the important role Iran plays in the region. "Iran plays a key role in establishing peace in the region and Washington needs Tehran to achieve the goal," he added.
He's just clueless. 'Key role in establishing peace'? What kind of peace do you think Iran wants?
"I am sure that the change will be one of the greatest changes in the US foreign policy over the recent years," IRNA quoted Drozdiak as saying on Wednesday.

The top advisor said that the Obama administration will try to reach out to Iran and this will follow holding consultation with the European allies of the United States. The 59-year-old American politician noted that the fight against drugs production and trafficking provides the two countries with a common ground to engage in direct talks.
Nice deck chairs you got there, Bill ...
Posted by: Fred || 12/11/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Suckers.
Posted by: newc || 12/11/2008 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  A strong case can be made that Iran is a natural US ally. That Persian shiites are more likely to support such an alliance (and participate in a healthy democracy) than Arab sunni would. That emerging US ally India could play a role in closing making this happen and that a new president is a good way to justify a fresh start.

But all of this first requires the mullarchy to go away first. Unfortunately it is a near nuclear police state. A minor detail Bill misses. Gosh.
Posted by: JAB || 12/11/2008 0:48 Comments || Top||

#3  "Iran plays a key role in establishing peace in the region "

Kinda like arsonists play a key role in fire safety.
Posted by: crosspatch || 12/11/2008 2:24 Comments || Top||

#4  The region will be peaceful once it's filled with smoking radioactive holes in the ground and it's entirely likely that Iran will bring this about so ....
Posted by: AzCat || 12/11/2008 4:17 Comments || Top||

#5  A senior advisor to US president-elect Barack Obama says the White House's approach to Iran will undergo a 'big change' in the future.

Gonna join them in nuking Israel, Baraq Hussein?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/11/2008 6:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Out of the three problem countries(SA,Pak and Iran)the general population in Iran is most pro west.Somehow we need to remove the govt though-how?.In SA and Pak we have friendly govts but dangerous elements within the establishments eg ISI/military in PAK and too much religious power in SA!!!
Posted by: Paul2 || 12/11/2008 9:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Go ahead. Reach out to them. Then when they bite your hand, bomb them.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 12/11/2008 12:43 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe, just maybe, BHO & Co. are saying all the "right" things so when they do the "wrong" thing (bomb Iran back to the stone age), they can say to everyone, "Look, see, we tried to negotiate, we tried to reason, but they were having none of it and that left us with no other option."

I fully realize this is more likely than not wishful thinking on my part but one can HOPE... for... CHANGE.

Although the news of Obama's promise of a "nuclear umbrella" for Israel would appear to discount the possibility he would ever attack pre-emptively, at least on its surface.
Posted by: eltoroverde || 12/11/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Yeah drug production, that's the real enemy. If we don't continue locking people up for smoking spliffs then Western Civilisation™ is doomed.
Posted by: Thuns Borgia2289 || 12/11/2008 13:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Key role in establishing peace = Get rid of Israel, then we'll have peace. Let Iran be the "big boy" in the middle east, then we'll have peace.

Gawd, the Iranians love to mess with Americans' minds.

Get rid of the nutjob Islamic hardliners in Iran, return it to the "Persians" -- then we'll have peace.
Posted by: ex-lib || 12/11/2008 15:05 Comments || Top||

#11  Wel-l-l, FREEREPUBLIC > OBAMA "ACCEPTS" IRAN'S NUCLEAR BOMB!?; + IRNA > OBAMA INCAPABLE OF FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE [US Middle East Foreign Policy = MORE BUSH-STYLE]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 20:00 Comments || Top||

#12  * "SAVING THE JIHAD" > IMO ISLAMIST IRAN MUST DETONATE OR CONDUCT AN INDIGENS NUCBOMB TEST(S), ideally on or before Year 2010 but absolutely NLT 2012 maxima, AS THE LONGER THE LEAD TIME THE HARDER IT WILL BE FOR RADICAL ISLAM, ETC. TO DEFEAT OR DESTROY US ENTRENCHMENT.

Pragmatically, before 2010 the threat from Iran = Radical Islam to Israel stems mainly from PROXY TERROR ATTACK, ESPEC BIOWAR OR CHEMWAR. POST 2010 + INDIGENS IRANIAN NUCBOMB TESTS > ISRAELI VS. IRAN/ISLAMIST WAR- OR TERROR- MAJEURE WILL INCREASINGLY TEND TOWARDS NUCLEARIZED OR OTHER WMD-COMBIN CONFLICT, WID THE ADVANTAGE GOING TO THAT SIDE WHICH PREEMPTIVELY STRIKES FIRST

*PAN-ISLAMIST PRE-NUCLEARIZATION [2008-2010/12] > Again, IMO Iran will prefer to maintain a low-profile, which in turn means that the US may have no cause to attack Iran short of PROVING [United Nations = UNSC]]THAT IRAN PROVIDES DE FACTO COVERT SUPPORT TO VARIOUS LOCAL-REGIONAL TERROR CONTRARY TO ITS PUBLIC RHETORIC, AND THAT IN CONSEQUENCE A NUCLEARIZING IRAN CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO NOT SUPPORT OR PROMOTE NUCLEAR TERROR + NUKE-BASED NATIONAL MILITARISM.

IOW, the US will need to formally link covert Iranian policies and actions to a high-profile, severe to catastrophic TERROR EVENT = ATTACK.
IN THE ABSENCE OF THIS SAME, THE OTHER CATALYST FOR US MILACTION REMAINS THE NORTH KOREA-TAIWAN ISSUES, ESPEC NORTH KOREA VEE ITS NATION-WIDE FAMINE [UNO = over 40% of NOKOR population needs IMMEDIATE FOOD AID]??? The succession to KIM JONG-IL is uncertain, and the UNO says under 1/2 of NK is de facto starving and likely to get worse into 2009.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 20:31 Comments || Top||

#13  See FREEREPUBLIC > MUSLIMS VERSUS IRAN; + PAKISTANI DEFNCE FORUM > IRAN WANTS TO DEVOUR THE ENTIRE MUSLIM WORLD.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:09 Comments || Top||

#14  WAFF > US CONFIRMS IRAN BOUGHT SA-20 MISSLES [S-300PMU-1/2's], from Russia wid love.

Also from WAFF > ITS TIME TO RE-SIZE RUSSIA:OBAMA'S NEW JOB.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:11 Comments || Top||

#15  PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > PAKSITAN EXPANDING ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM - NEW PLANT PROJECT UNDERWAY COULD PRODUCE ENOUGH PLUTONIUM FOR 40-50 BOMBS A YEAR. Could spark a REGIONAL NUCLEAR RACE, espec wid INDIA; + US URGES PAKISTAN NOT TO USE NEW REACTOR FOR WEAPONS [read, IRAN + NUC TERROR].

* SAME > PAKISTANI NUCLEAR SCIENTIST [AQ Khan] SAYS HE OBTAINED PARTS IN JAPAN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/11/2008 23:25 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2008-12-11
  14 alleged Islamic extremists detained in Belgium
Wed 2008-12-10
  Hamid Gul to be 'declared terrorist'
Tue 2008-12-09
  Masood Azhar confined to his headquarters
Mon 2008-12-08
  Paks torch 160 NATO supply trucks
Sun 2008-12-07
  Al-Shabaab set up regional administration
Sat 2008-12-06
  Suspected US missile kills 3 in Pakistan
Fri 2008-12-05
  Iraq Presidency Council approves US troop pact
Thu 2008-12-04
  Italy: Police arrest two Moroccan terrs
Wed 2008-12-03
  Abu Qatada back in jug
Tue 2008-12-02
  Zardari sez not to do anything rash
Mon 2008-12-01
  Pak Army Brass Turban: Baitullah Mehsud, Fazlullah are Patriots!
Sun 2008-11-30
  Last gunny killed in Mumbai, ending siege
Sat 2008-11-29
  Sadrists claim security pact 'illegal'
Fri 2008-11-28
  1 terrorist holed up in Taj
Thu 2008-11-27
  Indo security forces engage ''Deccan Mujaheddin''


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