Britain is preparing to receive foreign terror suspects from Guantánamo Bay so that Barack Obama can shut it down, The Times has learnt. Government sources say that Britain now supports moves to rehouse the detainees, despite previous refusals to help President Bush.
A Downing Street official said that a process to deal with the detainees was being put in place and that decisions would be for the Home Secretary to decide on a case-by-case basis.
The issue is the subject of intense negotiations within Whitehall. The Foreign Office appears much keener on the idea than other departments, which will have to deal with the suspects immigration status and whether they will need special housing and cash benefits. Having foreign terror suspects with no links to the UK housed here inevitably will provoke controversy.
Of course the Foreign Office wants to do it, they want to get off to a good start with Obama, said a Whitehall source. This is the sort of thing that will require a Cabinet-level decision.
Britain accepts that the prison should be closed, according to a diplomatic source, and that the US is going to need help to close it. The Government is supporting a call from Portugal for EU members to resettle detainees. The letter from the Foreign Minister Luis Amado to his EU counterparts follows weeks of internal EU discussions. Germany has said that it is considering taking in detainees. Mr Amado plans to raise the issue at a meeting of EU foreign ministers this month. It is also on the agenda at an EU General Affairs and External Relations Council meeting.
Late last year the Bush Administration sent a number of European allies, including Britain, a list of detainees, cleared for release by the US military, who face persecution in their home countries. The US State Department cabled about 100 countries for help in closing the jail.
The entreaties were met largely with refusals, but there is a desire to help Mr Obama, who has vowed to begin moves to close the prison as soon as he takes office this month. The President-elect has not made any formal request for help, but there have been talks between the US State Department and his transition team and he has made clear that he will exert pressure on Europe to take prisoners no longer deemed a threat.
The US military says that of the 248 prisoners still in Guantánamo Bay, approximately 60 have been cleared for release. One move being discussed in Washington is for the US to take in 17 Chinese Uighurs, who cannot return to China, as an opening gesture. Mr Obamas plan is for the most dangerous detainees between 30 and 80 men to be taken to the US for formal trials. This presents problems, however, as evidence against inmates such as Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the self-confessed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was supposedly obtained through duress.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/01/2009 12:49 ||
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#1
Excellent. EU resettlement efforts could mean that these terrorists will get EU passports, and the visa-free entry into the US that these passports bring with them.
#3
Exactly the problem with sending them to Britain, or anywhere in the EU: they will immediately apply for "refugee" status, demand a huge payment, and be set free. After all the poor dears were tortured unmercifully for seven years at Gitmo; they deserve no less.
Of course, if we had actually followed the Geneva Convention, these illegal combatants would have been lying in an unmarked grave since shortly after they were captured.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/01/2009 16:45 Comments ||
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#5
Let us wish them much joy from their decision, all of which they have amply earnt. After refusing the hated President Bush for what clearly was no reason other than a desire to deny him anything he asked for, they now scramble to give to President Obama what he hasn't even asked for? Did they not learn in school that nobody likes a suck-up?
Pakistan and India exchanged lists of their nuclear facilities Thursday, honoring an agreement that prohibits the countries from attacking each other's nuclear installations, said Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.
Pakistan and India have routinely exchanged these lists on the first day of the year since 1992 under an agreement that was signed in 1988.
Thursday's exchange came at a time of high tension between the nuclear-armed nations following the November attacks in Mumbai that left 164 people dead.
India has blamed Pakistani militants for the attacks. Pakistan has promised to punish those involved but has demanded India share evidence to support its accusations.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/01/2009 09:47 ||
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#3
WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > IIUC CHINA OFFERS PAKISTAN 240,000 TROOPS, + INDIAN MEDIAS FALSELY ACCUSE CHINESE MILITARY PERSONNEL OF HELPING PAKISTAN
[Chin-made PK Army vehicles invol in 20,000 PK troop shift]???
ALso on WMF < CHINA'S PLA "IRON FIST FIRST" POLICY: PRO-PEACE INITIATIVES GOES TOGETHER WITH STRONG MILITRYA READINESS FOR WAR. INDIA WARNED TO NOT ACT MILITARILY RASH IN ITS POST-MUMBAI DEALINGS WID PAKISTAN; + CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER: PAKISTAN MUST TRY TO AVOID CONFLICT WITH INDIA - INDIA-PAKISTAN CRISIS STRENGTHENS THE HANDS OF REGIONAL TERRORISTS.
#4
WORLD MIL FORUM > ASAHI SHIMBUN [Japan]: CHINA TO SOON BEGIN CONSTRUCTION OF FIRST TWO OF PLANNED FIVE-SHIP, 60,000 TONNE AIRCRAFT CARRIER CLASS, wid completion of two same expected before or NLT Year 2015; + GERMAN NAVAL EXPERTS: DEUTECHWELLE - CHINA's PLAN NAVY WITH ITS 832 SHIPS AND VESSELS IS NOW ASIA'S LARGEST AND STRONGEST. US NAVY = PLAN has 232 ships with Asia's largest SURFACE WARFARE-COMBATANT SHIPS!?
ALso on WMF > HONGKONG MEDIAS: CHINA TO BEGIN OFFCIAL VTOL AIRCRAFT PROGRAMME TESTING IN 2009???
An official spokesman denied Indian media reports on Wednesday that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had made a statement on the arrest of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba operative Zarar Shah. The Prime Minister's House said in a statement that the reports were 'baseless', adding that Gilani "did not issue any such statement".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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National Security Adviser Mahmud Ali Durrani has not ruled out Ajmal Kasab, the only terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai terror attacks, being a Pakistani. "Could be. I am not saying more than that because we don't have... I hate to say this, we don't have proof," he told a TV channel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
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India on Wednesday claimed Pakistan was in 'denial' over the Mumbai attacks and refusing to acknowledge evidence linking the gunmen who carried out the assault with elements in Pakistan. "If anyone is in a state of denial, anything that we give will be denied," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
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Many entertainers in the Arab world cancelled their New Year's celebrations as a show of solidarity with Palestinians under siege in Gaza following five days of a ruthless Israeli military offensive against the already beleaguered Strip.
New Year events scheduled to take place in Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan and many other parts of the Arab world have been either postponed or cancelled.
Four days of air strikes on the blockaded Strip yielded 380 dead and over 1750 wounded the majority of whom were civilians, prompting angry demonstrations world wide that have extinguished the normally festive mood around New Year's Eve.
Abdel Moneim Kamel, head of the Cairo Opera House told AlArabiya.net on Wednesday that Egyptian singer Mohamed Mounir's concert scheduled for New Year's Eve has been postponed till late January.
Mounir expressed his sorrow over the massacre in the Gaza Strip, explaining in a statement that "delaying the concert is a message sent to the whole world, so that it would move forward and help the people in Gaza."
The Egyptian government also announced the delay of events organized to celebrate the New Year, including an Egyptian operetta set to be recorded for the festive season and the debut of a new TV channel, Nile Comedy, initially scheduled for Thursday.
"We postponed the launch of Nile Comedy and instead of festive shows, we are airing documentary films," Osama al-Sheikh, head of Egypt's Nile Thematic channels, told AlArabiya.net.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Big deal.
It's still the 7th Century in most of the Muddled East anyway.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/01/2009 0:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I think muslims never celibrate new year read following article about muslim new year Link for muslim new year
#3
Four days of air strikes on the blockaded Strip yielded 380 dead and over 1750 wounded the majority of whom were civilians
Lying assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2009 8:55 Comments ||
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#4
It's still the 7th Century in most of the Muddled East anyway.
That's basically the problem in a nutshell. The Muddled East is celebrating the year 709 and we are celebrating 2009. As technology forces us together the question is are we going to split the difference and allow them to take us back to the 1300s?
#6
2009 is going to be a very bad year for any country dependent on oil production. The price cannot come up until the market stops contracting and starts to expand. Not likely for quite awhile.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/01/2009 11:36 Comments ||
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#7
Richard of O, there is a way for oil prices to rise without market expansion - suply contraction. A war in the Persian Gulf would do it. Or revolution in KSA. Etc.
BAGHDAD The U.S. formally transferred control of the Green Zone to Iraqi authorities Thursday in a pair of ceremonies that also handed back Saddam Hussein's former palace. Iraq's prime minister said he will propose making Jan. 1 a holiday marking the restoration of sovereignty. Under the new security agreement between Washington and Baghdad to replace a U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, the Iraqi government also now has control of American troops' actions and of the country's airspace.
Many of the changes inaugurated on New Year's Day won't bring immediately visible results. The Green Zone, the country's government and military command center, remains ringed by concrete blast walls and off limits to most Iraqis. U.S. troops still man its checkpoints, although now as trainers rather than leaders.
But the Americans have moved out of the Republican Palace, the sprawling former headquarters of Saddam's regime that they took over shortly after the 2003 invasion. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki formerly took control of the building Thursday and exulted over the security pact under which U.S. troops are to leave the country by 2012. "A year ago, the mere thought of forces withdrawing from Iraq was considered a dream," al-Maliki told reporters afterward. "The dream that no one had the right to think about became true."
He called for making Jan. 1 a national holiday called "Sovereignty Day." Iraq already officially observes New Year's Day as a holiday.
Also on Thursday, British troops turned over to Iraqi officials the airport in Basra, the country's second-largest city. Britain says it will withdraw its approximately 4,000 soldiers in Iraq by May 31.
"Iraq is taking another step toward the future, signaling to its citizens and the international community that it is indeed a new day for sovereign Iraq," U.S. Army Col. Steven Ferrari said at a separate ceremony handing over control of the Green Zone.
The Green Zone was the most potent symbol of the U.S. invasion and occupation. The 4-square-mile area, which nestles into the start of an oxbow bend of the Tigris River, formally is called the International Zone. Sarcastically, it's called "The Bubble" because the foreigners who live and work there often have little contact with the shabby and violent city on the other side of the 13-foot-high, reinforced concrete blast walls around the perimeter.
But the sense of security is only relative. The zone was a favorite target for rockets and mortars fired by insurgents. In 2007, the attacks were so heavy that the U.S. Embassy ordered its workers to wear flak jackets and helmets anywhere outside.
Asked whether insurgents could resume attacks now that the area is under Iraqi control, Ferrari said, "Common sense says they'll probably test the Green Zone."
The walls and the seemingly endless series of checkpoints inside have been worrisomely porous. A suicide bomber attacked the parliament's dining hall in 2007, killing one person. Suicide vests wired with explosives have been found on the grounds.
Although Baghdad is calmer now, the Green Zone is full of unsettling reminders of war. Duck-and-cover bunkers dot sidewalks under lush date palms. Walls bear signs warning drivers not to stop for any reason and frequent speed bumps force vehicles to a near crawl.
Even before U.S. troops took control of the area in 2003 and put up the walls, the neighborhood had an air of intimidation. Saddam and his sons had lavish residences there and motorists who drove through understood they shouldn't stop. Now, Iraqi officials have their eyes on making the area accessible, inspiring and educational, even though it's not yet clear when they will feel confident enough to take down the walls.
"It depends. There are many steps to take," Iraqi Security Minister Sherwan al-Waili said when asked about prospects for opening the zone.
In July, the National Investment Commission approved plans to build a $100 million luxury hotel in the zone. And in the next couple of months, the Iraqi High Tribunal plans to open a museum in the zone detailing the brutality of Saddam's regime. It will include a replica of the hole-in-the-ground hideout where Saddam was captured in 2004, two years before he was executed, tribunal head Arif Abdul-Razzak Al-Shaheen told the newspaper Asharq al-Awsat last month.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/01/2009 16:35 ||
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The Iraqi government has called on members of the Mojahedeen Khalq Organization residing in a camp north of Baghdad to leave the country.
The Iraqi government will take over the control of Camp Ashraf home to 3,500 Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) members on January 1, as part of a bilateral security deal between the US and the country.
"The Iraqi government will deal with the people in this camp in a humane way and according to internationally adopted standards, the Iraqi constitution and Iraqi laws," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The government of Iraq does not have any intention to expel the people of this organization or force them to leave Iraq. But it calls on those people to find another place outside Iraq in any state that may accept them as refugees, or for those who wish to return to Iran to go of their own free will," reads the statement.
"Iraq is no longer a suitable place for them because the Iraqi Constitution does not permit dealings with an organization classified as a terrorist group," Reuters quoted al-Dabbagh as saying.
The MKO moved to Iraq in 1986 and used the country as a launch pad for attacks on Iran.
During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, the MKO joined the Saddam regime's troops to fight Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This is the latest - final? - twist in a bizarre story. When I last was in the know a few years back, the Bulgarian contingent had been assigned to run Ashraf. Pretty impressive, as incongruous military stories go: a central European military guarding fringe Iranian expat terrorists/dissidents/nutjobs/whatever in a US-policed Arab country.
I won't be surprised if the Iraqis find this a thorny problem. The question of finding a place to put these people, a country willing to take them as refugees, may not be so easily solved, if the period 2003-2008 was any indication .....
#1
You know what amazes me most about the world today is the lack of outrage by those who claim to be civilized, such as the European "elites" and "liberals" or the common NPR educated masses. They seem to have come to the point where they think it is okay for terrorist organizations to convince women to strap on bombs and blow themselves to a fine pink mist while taking as many other women and children with them as they can.
How does one get to the point where they can justify this in their mind? Any elites or liberals out there that would like to explain it to me?
#4
Shallet, the predominant emotion of the NPR audience is guilt: guilt for being white, guilt for being 'first-world', guilt for being relatively well-off. But why suffer for the guilt themselves when they can have the Israelis stand in for the West. This also involves insideous racism against the side identified as more third-world or darker in color because it doesn't hold them to any moral standards; any action is excusable. In the case of the Europeans an additional factor is involved: economics. Better to sell your Nokia cell phones to a market of over a billion Moslem than to a few million Israeli Jews.
#5
I came to know that Muslims hate pigs and lizards. They like spiders. Christens hate Jews because of a two thousand years old lies. Could any one tell me why Muslims hate apes?
#11
I don't think most Christians hate Jews in this day and age. Some, like Aryan Nations, might (but then I wouldn't exactly call them Christians either...).
#12
Bible reading Christians certainly don't hate Jews, their sister faith, as they share a common destiny. Jesus was a Jew, as were all of his original disciples. Rome had Arab collaborators that fostered hostility against the Jews thousands of years ago, even slaughtering a pig on the altar BC, and the conspiratorial lies still remain, mostly in the Roman Church. I would say this deep-seated resentment of apes goes way back. Hiram, King of Tyre, using Phoenician/Philistine laborers, brought apes, timber, the rare gold of Ophir, and other building materials for King Solomon to build the First Temple. Mt. Ophir is on the Malay Peninsula, along with apes, baboons, and Asian Muslims today.
#13
Seems like I hear far more bigotry coming from Jews (and liberals) regarding Evangelical Christians than I have ever heard coming from Christians towards Jews. But then annon just seems to be trolling.
#21
I'm not prejudiced---
I hate everybody, regardless of race, creed, or color.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/01/2009 21:40 Comments ||
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#22
OK, so suppose for arguments sake that Joooos are descended from apes and pigs. It is also known that Mooselimbs descended from basically the same line as the Joooos.
Where does this lead?
Best case (from Muslim perspective): Abraham was a human, and that he somehow ended up marrying something that was a cross between a monkey and a pig, leaving Abraham's preferences in question.
How about they keep it there and take it off Israel's hands?
Oh, they mean the issue not the gods-forsaken strip of coastal land. Oh well.
Arab governments will take their case for an end to Israel's attacks on Gaza back to the U.N. Security Council, Arab foreign ministers said on Wednesday
After a meeting of Arab ministers in Cairo, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said the ministers strongly condemned what they called barbaric Israeli aggression.
"(The ministers) direct an immediate demand that the U.N. Security Council convene and ask it to issue a resolution that binds Israel to immediately stop the aggression," he said, reading from the ministerial statement.
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to seek a common position in response to Israel's military attacks, which have killed at least 25 percent of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The U.N. Security Council called on Sunday for an immediate end to all violence in Gaza, where Israeli air raids have killed close to 400 people in the last five days.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Arabs should take the Israeli attacks to the U.N. Security Council, even at a risk that a resolution would face a veto from one of the five permanent members of the council.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to seek a common position in response to Israel's military attacks, which have killed at least 25 percent of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
If all 400 killed were civilians then at max 1600 people out of a population of 1,500,000 are civilians in Gaza.
At least 25 percent of Palestinians killed during Israel's onslaught on the Gaza Strip have been civilians, a United Nations agency says. More than 390 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the Israeli campaign on Gaza, and some 1,900 others are reported wounded.
According to many Western media outlets, the ongoing strikes, which have now entered their fifth day, are the ugliest massacre Palestine has witnessed in decades.
"A minimum of 25 percent of all those killed are civilians and it may well be far higher," Christopher Gunness, a spoksman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, told AFP on Wednesday.
Israeli officials say the operation is aimed at taking out Hamas compounds throughout the coastal sliver.
In retaliation to the attacks on Gaza, Hamas has launched rocket strikes on Israel. Six Israelis have died since Saturday, while sixteen others have been reported wounded.
The UN figures come as Israel rejected an international proposal for a 48-hour humanitarian aid truce in Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"At least 25 percent of Palestinians killed during Israel's onslaught on the Gaza Strip have been civilians"
So you're saying 75% of paleo "civilians" aren't stupid to live next to a rocket launcher or a mosque munitions dump?
Who knew?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/01/2009 0:48 Comments ||
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#2
"Hamas has continues launched launching rocket strikes on Israel"
#4
It took less than a week for history to be rivised. Already the Hamas rockets are retaliation for Israeli attacks.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/01/2009 2:15 Comments ||
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#5
Pfft. Nobody needs to hear from the UN's refugee-farmers. Those fuckers are the primary agents in creation of the cultural monster which is Palestinian nihilism. The whole UN refugee apparatus ought to be defunded & every single employee ought to be out on the street this morning with tin-cups and "will poison minds and condescend to indigenous peoples for food" placards.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/01/2009 9:23 Comments ||
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#6
Those fuckers are the primary agents in creation of the cultural monster which is Palestinian nihilism.
I thought Islam was the primary agent, but I might be quibbling.
#8
Don't forget that according to the U.N. there are no 'terrorists' in the world (they haven't defined what terrorism is yet) so what we would call a terrorist - they call a 'civilian'.
#10
So what would a good figure be? Does the UN want 99% or something? I say 75% is amazing and it shows the determination of Israel to try to target terrorists as best they can even though the terrorists do their best to hide behind women and children. And men.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called on Wednesday for an immediate meeting of rival Palestinian factions, at the opening of an emergency session on how to deal with Israel's Gaza onslaught. "We call on our Palestinian brothers to hold an immediate reconciliation meeting," Moussa told foreign ministers from the 22-member.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
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Hamas rockets have struck the large southern cities of Be'er Sheva and Ashdod, home of Israel's largest port, for the first time since the militant group broke its cease-fire with Israel on Dec. 19.
A former U.S. intelligence official said Hamas is now using Iranian versions of the Katyusha and Grad rockets with a range of 18.6 to 21.7 miles (30 to 35 kilometers). The new rockets dramatically extend Hamas' reach. Hamas had relied heavily on the shorter-range homemade Qassams that fly only up to 1.8 miles (3 kilometers), the former official said.
The rockets do not have guidance systems so they are indiscriminate in targeting. But that makes them well suited for a barrage on a town or a dispersed battlefield of soldiers, particularly if fired in great numbers.
"Hamas has definitely learned from Hezbollah," the former official said.
National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe on Wednesday told reporters in Crawford, Texas, that there is no doubt both Iran and Syria are supplying Hamas with weapons. Iran has long been suspected of providing financial support to the militant Palestinian group. The U.S. counterterrorism official, however, said that many Hamas' rockets are cobbled together in a rudimentary way by militants in Gaza from parts smuggled into the region. The official declined to discuss numbers.
In the month-long 2006 conflict with Israeli, Lebanese Hezbollah fired more than 4,000 missiles into Israel, about a third of its missiles stores at the time. Most were Katyusha-type rockets, which are quick to set up and have ranges of about 12 miles.
The Israeli government said in 2006 that Hezbollah also wielded Iranian-made missiles with ranges of up to 50 miles (80 kilometers). Hamas does not appear to have used those longer-range tactical missiles, the former intelligence official said.
Four Israelis have been killed by Hamas' rocket fire in recent days, including three civilians, since the cease-fire broke on Dec. 19.
Gaza officials say Israel's retaliatory airstrikes have killed about 390 and wounded about 1,600. Hamas says some 200 uniformed members of Hamas security forces have been killed. The UN says at least 60 Palestinian civilians have died.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11128 views]
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#3
Where will Iran get the money to fund Hamas and it's other pet projects in the coming year? It seems like there will have to budget cuts in the terrorist groups.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/01/2009 12:04 Comments ||
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#4
Where will Iran get the money to fund Hamas and it's other pet projects in the coming year?
China, in exchange for very advantageous terms in future oil contracts.
Russia, because the US and Europe have an interest in the region.
#5
If you've always wondered why all the Chinese stuff out there is cheaper than everything else, part of the reason is they're not paying as much for feedstocks as the rest of you.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, on a tour of rocket-battered Be'er Sheva Wednesday, said Israel will not allow Hamas "thugs" to rule in the Middle East. "We have made a change in the equation, gone are the days in which Hamas fired at us and we kept quiet," Livni said. "They erred in thinking that when Israel restrained itself, it would not respond."
Livni said Israel cares about its citizens while at the same time Hamas does not care about its own. "They use women and children in order to defend terrorists. We will not allow these thugs to rule in the Middle East," she said.
Earlier, President Shimon Peres visited Ashkelon as Qassam rockets pounded the southern city, and vowed that "the IDF is ready for any scenario."
During his tour, Peres met with Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and officers from the Home Front Command, and was given an assessment of the security situation in the city. Peres also visited the city's Barzilai Hospital, where he met with Bedouin laborers wounded by a Qassam strike on Monday that killed 27-year-old Israeli construction worker Hani al Mahdi, from the Bedouin village of Aroer.
Peres refused to elaborate on how long he thinks the IDF operation will last, but did say that "our army shows sensitivity and doesn't hurt civilians as much as possible, even though the terrorists hiding in family homes."
Peres added "this is not a war that we started; it is a provocation that had carried on for months. We left Gaza and we have no interest there."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
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#2
Let's loan them a dozen B-52s, weapons and crews. Take off from Ben Gurion Airfield, fly over Gaza, come back - 30-minute actual mission time, an hour to form up. Make six trips a day. By the end of the second day, allow the Israeli 2nd Squeegie Brigade in to mop up.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/01/2009 14:53 Comments ||
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#3
Canada's National Post gets it. Too bad the New York Slimes or Washington Post-intelligence can't.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/01/2009 14:57 Comments ||
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#4
good link, OP - they DO get it
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2009 15:08 Comments ||
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#5
the comments (from OP's link) make we want to puke but the actual article itself is spot on
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/01/2009 15:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"Peres added "this is not a war that we started; it is a provocation that had carried on for months. We left Gaza and we have no interest there."
Peres,
How's that capitulation Land for Peace lab experiment working out? After giving into the terrorists demands, by leaving Gaza, why is it that the media have all but forgotten about the past extreme generosity of the Labor Party, during this IDF operation? Also, at what point did you realize that by leaving Gaza, you automatically extended the rocket range of Hamas?
Multiple paragraphs please. Pencils down in 90 min.
Also on WMF > OBAMA's DANGEROUS GAME: SMASH RUSSIA AND CHINA! Webster G. Tarpley's book "THE MEN BEHIND OBAMA" claims that Zbigniew Brzezinski is PEBO's true overall political advisor, and that once in power Obama's new POTUS Admin will likely come out in suppor of "Ziggy's" great pro-Neocon geostrategic agenda to PDeniably but globally expand WAR-OPS [vee GWOT = "ANTI-TERRORISM"] agz a host of international countries, wid INTENT TO ULTIMATELY DESTABILIZE IFF NOT UTTERLY DESTROY RUSSIA AND CHINA, ETC. AS CHALLENGERS TO US-CENTRIC WORLD DOMINATION [USOWG-NWO!?
* OTOH, PRAVDA > US PREPARES TO IMMORTALIZE ITS HUGE DEBT [new 100-Year Bonds].; + WORLD MIL FORUM POSTERS > IT WILL TAKE THE US MANY GENERATIONS, NEARLY 200 YEARS TO PAY OFF ITS CURRENT GROSS WORLD DEBTS EVEN IFF THE US PAYS US$700BILYUHN IN BAILOUT EVERY YEAR FOR 200 YEARS!
D *** NG IT, SILLY MORIARITY THOUGHT 30-YEAR US TREASURY BORROW BONDS WERE "IT" - we missed "THE IMPOSSIBLES" animated movie on Disney Channel again, didn't we!?
#10
Brzezinski is not high on most people's list of suspected neocons. Quite the opposite - he's the very model of a modern geo-realist. Where did that author come up with such an idea?
"The Israelis claim they have learned the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, but they haven't," Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday night. In a televised speech, Nasrallah said that Israel had not set a clear target for the current Gaza operation, asserting that the IDF wasn't sure it would achieve anything and that the military action in the Strip would end in failure.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[11125 views]
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#1
He's right. They haven't learned lessons of second Lebanon war. They went back and learned lessons from wars that they won.
#2
Actually, I don't see this current endeavor as accomplishing much. The Israelis are obsessed with keeping a nonsensical status quo, and absolutely refuse to do anything that would eventually lead to a forced resolution.
It is like a great big prisoner sharing a prison cell with a small, insane psychopath prisoner, who constantly attacks the big guy in annoying ways until the big guy loses his temper and punches the small guy once.
Then the small guy gets up, dusts himself off, and starts attacking again. Eventually, the little guy is going to come up with some way of injuring the big guy, but the big guy just can't bring himself to throw the little guy out of the cell entirely.
#3
You are probably right. I was hopeful they might be serious this time. But as no ground invasion begun yet, it looks like just another round of the same ol' abusive and dysfuntional relationship. The have a knock-down fight. The neighbors call the police who will drive by and tell them to keep it down. Another year will go by.
#7
WAFF.com/TOPIX > VARIOUS ISLAMIST WEBSITES [Forums] CALL FOR ATTACKS AGZ AMERICAN, ISRAELI WORLDWIDE INTERESTS.
E.g. Sub-Article > SOMALI JIHAD FIGHTER - WE WILL ESTABLISH/SET UP ISLAMIC RULE FROM ALASKA + CHINA, TO SOUTH AMERICA, JAPAN, RUSSIA, + INDIA.... WE ARE COMING!; + WAS IRAN PROPHECIED TO RULE THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MUHAMMED AND QURAN!?
The UN Coordinator on Humanitarian Access to Gaza on Wednesday called for the immediate opening of the Karni crossing, in order to transfer humanitarian supplies to Palestinians.
"Without the violence stopping, it is extremely difficult to get food to people who need it, we cannot assess where the most urgent needs are, and it is too dangerous for civilians to leave their homes to seek urgent medical treatment, buy supplies and assist people in distress," Maxwell Gaylard said in a statement.
"We desperately need Karni to open, today, to get wheat grain in. UNRWA has no wheat grain for the 750,000 people who need it," he added.
The statement went on to stress that Gazan hospitals were without power, and that fuel was needed to reopen the main power plant.
"[Israeli authorities] are offering their cooperation and we are offering ours. They have been responsive to specific requests, which we appreciate. But the gravity of the situation now demands more," said Gaylard.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hamas must be running low on humanitarian rockets.
#4
Israel needs to "miss" once or twice, and hit the UN "by accident". It would make the entire job a lot easier.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/01/2009 14:55 Comments ||
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#5
Japan: 1945. "Hey, where's our food and oil, Yankee dogs? We're hungry and cold."
It used to be that this was the point of the exercise. How long do you think Hamas would last if wars were fought like they used to be?
#7
tu3031, actually, at the end of WWII, Japan was on the verge of starvation. (If we hadn't bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the next targets would have been the railroads between the rice paddies and the cities, which would have caused real starvation.)
General MacArthur requested and got food for the Japanese. When he was asked why we didn't just let the Japanese starve, he replied "We're better than that".
On the other hand, Japan had surrendered, and ceased hostilities.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/01/2009 21:33 Comments ||
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Ma'an - Vice President of the European Parliament Luisa Morgantini went to Hebron on Wednesday with a delegation of Europeans to show solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli attack.
The delegation was received by Hebron mayor Khalid Al-Useili and other members of the city's municipal council.
The delegation was given an update on the situation in Hebron in light of the recent settler attacks against Palestinian homes following the eviction of right wing settlers from the Rajabi home. He called the actions in Hebron a "prelude to the bloodshed by an Israeli war machine which targets residential buildings, mosques, hospitals and schools paying no attention to international conventions and laws."
Al-Useili asked members of the delegation to exert pressure on their home governments and on the European Union to stop Israeli aggression both in Hebron and in the Gaza Strip.
He also called on France, the current president of the European Union to place more pressure on Israel, as well as the UN Security Council which he suggested pass a binding resolution on the situation in Gaza.
Al-Useli also asked the visiting delegation to support an application by the Hebron municipal council to UNESCO for status as a World Heritage Site. The ancient mosque and old city would thus be preserved and Israel would be prevented from destroying precious landmarks Palestinians consider part of human cultural heritage.
For her part, Morgantini said, "We came to Hebron to show solidarity with the Palestinians as we can feel the tyranny upon them, and we believe they have the right to live in freedom by ending occupation of their lands. We believe they have the right to achieve their national dream and gain their rights in accordance with international conventions. We herby call on the whole world to exert endeavors towards achieving Palestinian freedom and letting the Palestinians live in peace securing normal life for their children as their counterparts in the world."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
heh. If it weren't so serious it would be funny. The UN will huff and puff and issue a strongly worded statement. The world will consider action taken and move on to more important issues - like how Jen feels about Jlo. The civlized world has asked the UN to take action against terror for years. The terrorists have always ignored the UN. Now that they call on the UN, they should not be surprised that the civlized countries put as much stock in the UN as they do.
Only if Israel stops its aggression unconditionally, lifts the blockade and opens the Gaza crossings will Hamas agree to "talk about all issues - and seriously," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday night, at the end of the fifth day of the IDF's Operation Cast Lead. In a televised address, the Hamas prime minister added that only after these conditions have been met, will an internal Palestinian dialogue be launched.
Haniyeh turned to Palestinians in Gaza. "The situation in Gaza before the war will be different from after the war," he assured them. "This is a war that divides two eras and, with God's help, victory will be ours, because these people stand firm, the resistance stands firm and because the occupation will fail to achieve anything. "Our blessings are with all those who have fallen in battle, all the casualties and all the operatives on the ground," he said.
On a satisfactory note, Hanieyeh said that the Palestinians were closely following international opinion, particularly in the Arab world. "We get the feeling that Israel is standing against the Arab and Muslim free world that will never accept this crazy war against a people without [proper] arms in such a small area, but [are] a great and strong people nonetheless."
"Gaza is not the only place standing against this aggression," he continued. "That's what they wanted. They sought to isolate it from the Arab world, but this storm among Arab nations has proved that the Strip is not alone and the occupation cannot do this. The Arab people have proved that the Palestinian issue is in their hearts."
Choosing to steer clear of criticizing Egypt for not opening the Rafah border crossing, Haniyeh said that "the occupation alone is responsible for what is going on - for the aggression and the blockade."
Earlier Wednesday night, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in an address broadcast on Palestinian TV that the stalled negotiating process had become useless and was not reaching any of its goals - namely the creation of a Palestinian state. "Negotiation is not a goal by itself; it's a tool," Abbas said. "Unless it is a tool to achieve peace ... there is no need for it to continue."
Turing to Gazans, Abbas said that the Palestinian people were standing firmly with them. He described the IDF operation as a "massacre" directed at the entire Palestinian people and called it "cheap election propaganda." The PA president also appealed to the UNSC to hold an emergency session on the Gaza situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This is a poor translation.
Allow me to offer a more accurate one:
If the IDF doesn't stop attacking Gaza, we'll keep shooting rockets at Israeli kindergartens.
However, if the IDF does stop attacking Gaza, we'll keep shooting rockets at Israeli kindergartens.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/01/2009 0:52 Comments ||
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#2
If the IDF doesn't stop attacking Gaza, we'll keep shooting rockets at Israeli kindergartens.
Retranslated: If the IDF doesn't stop attacking Gaza, we won't be able to keep shooting rockets at Israeli kindergartens.
#4
"Gaza is not the only place standing against this aggression," he continued. "That's what they wanted. They sought to isolate it from the Arab world, but this storm among Arab nations has proved that the Strip is not alone and the occupation cannot do this."
What? The Arab League just rejected Hamas' terrorist actions.
"The Arab people have proved that the Palestinian issue is in their hearts."
What? The Egyptian (Arabs) military were shooting at Gazans (Arabs) as they were trying to cross the Egyptian border.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that Israeli attacks on Gaza had to stop before any truce proposals could be considered.
"First, the Zionist aggression must end without any conditions... Second the siege must be lifted and all the crossings must be opened because the siege is the source of all of Gaza's problems," he said in a televised speech to Palestinians. "After that it will be possible to talk on all issues without any exception," Haniyeh said, referring to recent truce proposals raised by all parties, including Israel.
Haniyeh was speaking from an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, which has suffered the deadliest Israeli attacks in the past four decades in which at least 394 Palestinians have been killed.
Haniyeh sounded a defiant tone, saying the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip will win the fight against Israel. "We tell the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere that you will win, inevitably," Haniyeh said. "Victory is near, God willing, and it is closer than people think."
In his speech, Haniyeh said: "What is happening in Gaza is not normal aggression. It is a real war, a war without morals, with neither principles nor laws. It is a war of elimination against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."
The head of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, earlier on Wednesday said that Israel is hesitating to launch a ground invasion into the Gaza Strip for fear of failure. According to Nasrallah, a ground operation in Gaza will prove extremely difficult for Israel, because of the one and a half million residents who are "embracing the resistance."
In a televised speech made before an audience of Hezbollah supporters in Beirut, Nasrallah added that Israel hasn't declared specific goals for Operation Cast Lead because it won't be capable of achieving them. "What is happening in Gaza is a victory, despite all the pure blood being spilled," said Nasrallah.
Nasrallah on Sunday said that he had asked his fighters to be on alert for a possible Israeli attack on Lebanon following the raids on Gaza that have killed nearly 400 Palestinians. "What is happening today is a Palestinian copy of the July war," Nasrallah declared, drawing a comparison between the Israel Defense Forces offensive in the Gaza Strip and the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which Hezbollah waged against Israel in southern Lebanon.
This article starring:
Hassan Nasrallah
Ismail Haniyeh
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Palestinian Victory?
I do not think those words mean what you think they mean
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/01/2009 9:32 Comments ||
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#2
The war must not stop until Israel has you, Ismail Haniyeh. Then it will stop, for you. It must go on at least until the February elections, then we will see.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/01/2009 11:41 Comments ||
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Hamas vowed on Wednesday to fight "until the last breath" if Israel makes good on threats to send ground troops into Gaza after rejecting calls for a truce and pressing on with its air assault.
They keep promising and promising but they're still breathing.
"We in Hamas are ready for all scenarios and we will fight until the last breath," senior official Mushir al-Masri told AFP as warplanes pounded Gaza for a fifth day and the enclave's Islamist rulers hit back with rockets. "Israel will embark on a veritable adventure if it decides to invade Gaza. We have prepared surprises for them," he vowed.
The Israeli security cabinet earlier rejected international proposals for a truce in its offensive on Hamas in Gaza, a senior government official said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after a meeting of his security cabinet that the current conditions were not right for a Gaza ceasefire but he did not rule one out in the future. "If conditions will ripen, and we think there can be a diplomatic solution that will ensure a better security reality in the south, we will consider it. But at the moment, it's not there," Olmert was quoted by an aide as saying.
"The government decided to adopt a success strategy.
Well THAT's a new approach.
The government wants to reach the goals of halting terror from Gaza. Once we reach this goal we will be ready to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire."
Quoting Olmert, he added: "We did not launch the Gaza operation only to end it with the same rocket firing that we had at its start."
Unfortunately, if you end it now it won't be the same rocket firing - it will be the new, more powerful ones from China coming at farthest corners of your country.
Following the Israeli rejection of the truce, Hamas said it was prepared to study proposals for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that would require Israel to halt attacks and lift "entirely" its blockade of the Gaza Strip. "Once we receive a proposal, we will study it," said Hamas official Ayman Taha. "We are for any initiative that will bring an immediate cessation to the aggression and lift the siege entirely."
Protests earlier mushroomed around the globe and world's top diplomats scrambled to find a way to stop one of Israel's deadliest-ever offensives on Gaza that has so far killed at least 390 Palestinians, including 42 children, and wounded more than 2,000 others, according to Gaza medics.
On the ground, Israeli jets continued to hammer Hamas targets throughout Gaza, carrying out more than 35 strikes overnight targeting government offices, weapon storage facilities and contraband tunnels, the army said. The massive Israeli assault has left many Hamas structures and bases in rubble and has killed several senior officials of the Islamist group.
But it has failed to stop the rocket fire. Since late Tuesday, Hamas's armed wing sent five rockets slamming around the desert town of Beersheva some 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the Gaza border the deepest its projectiles have reached into Israel yet. Since the start of the Israeli offensive, Gaza militants have fired more than 250 rockets into Israel, killing three civilians and one soldier and wounding several dozen people.
Hamas has remained defiant in the face of the Israeli onslaught, vowing to reach ever-deeper into Israel with its rockets. The group has also threatened to carry out suicide attacks inside Israel for the first time since January 2005.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hamas vowed on Wednesday to fight "until the last breath" if Israel makes good on threats to send ground troops into Gaza after rejecting calls for a truce and pressing on with its air assault.
#2
The government decided to adopt a success strategy.
I'm sure 100 years ago they would have found it odd that such a statement could be written. But here we are in 2009, where it seems odd only that they admit they intend to win.
#3
"Hamas vowed on Wednesday to fight 'until the last breath'"
Your proposal is accepted.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/01/2009 11:20 Comments ||
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#4
Napalm sucks the air right out of the lungs of such twits. That's what Israel should be using against the Gaza tunnels and any underground "command posts" they can find. Of course, hitting them when they're buried under mosques, girl schools, or hospitals does make it difficult. Israel needs to go into Gaza, shoot everybody that even picks up a small stone to throw, blow up all "underground command posts", level all buildings over two stories in heighth, and lay a minefield a mile deep along the entire INSIDE border of Gaza, and pull out. Use napalm against anyone that tries to clear the mines. Line a double-wire border fence with claymores every five feet. Plant acoustical and motion sensors along the Israeli side of the fence, and use artillery to collapse any tunnel the Gazans may try to dig. FORCE THE REST OF THE WORLD TO SUPPLY GAZA WITH FOOD, WATER, POWER AND WHATEVER ELSE THEY NEED, while cutting off everything that might have come from Israel, or through it, before. The rest of the world will probably get tired of supporting these parisites in a few years, and they'll slowly be drained away. That's Israel's best bet, and they should take it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/01/2009 15:14 Comments ||
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#5
what... no arclight missions?
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/01/2009 15:17 Comments ||
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#8
Wasn't it Sharon who suggested building a canal about 100 feet deep all along the Gaza/Egypt border? It would certainly make tunneling a lot more difficult.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/01/2009 16:55 Comments ||
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#9
Has somebody copywrighted "to the last drop of blood"?
Israeli leaders Wednesday rejected a proposal to pause attacks on the Gaza Strip for 48 hours, declaring that there were no guarantees Hamas fighters would in return stop firing rockets into Israel.
Discussions were continuing in hopes of developing a more durable cease-fire. But after looking at the existing proposal, "we saw that it did not contain the necessary elements to make the truce permanent," said Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "It lacks a plan to enforce the cease-fire, to make sure Hamas won't shoot rockets into Israel anymore, and stop the smuggling of weapons."
"It does not contain any guarantees," he added. "There is nothing in the proposal that if we declare a unilateral cease-fire it will mean anything to Hamas and that it will ensure a durable cease-fire afterwards."
He said meetings among Israeli leaders would continue today. "There is a lot of work that still needs to be done," he said.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said President Bush had spoken this morning to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, who reassured Bush that Israel was targeting Hamas operatives and trying to avoid civilian casualties. When asked whether the two had discussed a specific timetable for seeking a cease-fire, Johndroe said they hadn't discussed anything specific.
"What's more important is the goal. As I said, we all want to see an end to the violence as soon as possible," Johndroe said at a news conference in Crawford, Tex., where Bush is visiting his family ranch. "President Bush wants to see an end to the violence. Prime Minister Olmert wants to see an end to the violence. But I think from the prime minister's perspective, an end to the violence means that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel, and Israel won't have to go after the rocket launchers."
Johndroe reiterated the White House's calls for a "sustainable and durable cease-fire that Hamas respects," and said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "has been working the phones almost nonstop since Saturday," when the Israeli bombing campaign began.
Israel continued to pound the Gaza Strip for the fifth day from the air and from the sea, targeting Hamas outposts and the network of tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border used by the militant group to smuggle weapons, the Israeli military said. The strikes rattled buildings in Gaza City, where the targets included an office of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader in Gaza. Israel said the office was used for planning attacks against the country.
Hamas continued firing as well. By Wednesday afternoon local time a barrage of more than 20 rockets and mortar shells had struck southern Israel. About 40 rockets hit Israeli territory Tuesday. Five rockets crashed in and around the city of Beersheba, about 25 miles from Gaza, late Tuesday and Wednesday--the farthest strikes by Hamas yet. There were no serious casualties reported Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger separatists are open to restarting peace talks with the government, despite the continuing military offensive aimed at crushing the group, a senior rebel official said.
A new military push deep into the rebel heartland in recent months has forced the Tamil Tigers to retreat from vast swaths of land they once controlled, and the government has said it expects to finish off the group in the coming months. Rebel political chief Balasingham Nadesan told The Associated Press the rebels did not believe they were facing imminent defeat. "We have made several strategic withdrawals in order to save the lives of our people and maintain the strength of our forces. When the time and place is conducive, we will regain the land we have lost," he said in an e-mail sent to the AP late Tuesday. Nadesan said the rebels had not abandoned hopes for new peace talks. "We have always been ready for peace talks, but the Sri Lankan government has been always insisting on a military solution," he said.
Condition for peace: The government said it would only consider new peace moves if the rebels agreed to disarm. "For three decades we were trying to convince (rebel leader Velupillai) Prabhakaran and his terror group to come to some sort of reasonable arrangement, but they failed," Cabinet minister Keheliya Rambukwella said. If the group refuses to lay down its weapons, "we will not move an inch from our position," he said.
Fighting across the north continued Wednesday, and the rebel-linked TamilNet website reported that air force jets bombed a village killing four civilians and wounding 13 others. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said there were no airstrikes Wednesday morning.
The latest government offensive has squeezed the rebels into an increasingly shrinking area in the northeast. Fighter jets have relentlessly pounded their strongholds and the military has closed in on the rebels' administrative capital, Kilinochchi Nadesan said the rebels remained confident they would not be driven out of their heartland, but implied that if they were, the conflict would continue anyway. "We are used to all types of wars," he said, adding that the Tamil Tigers began as a guerrilla group. "We will struggle on with the help of our people until their political aspirations are met."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It looks like the government is offering the Tigers their choice of two kinds of peace. They can achieve peace by surrunding or the can enjoy the peace of the graveyard. Simple, no?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/01/2009 11:52 Comments ||
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An Iranian newspaper has been banned after publishing an article which authorities say has condoned Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip. The Iranian Culture Ministry banned the publication of the centrist daily Kargozaran, after it published a statement by a radical group blaming pro-resistance factions and countries for the current situation in the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper's recent move was in clear violation of Iran's press law, said Mohammad Parvizi of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry on Wednesday. He added that Iran's Press Supervisory Board will refer the newspaper's case to court.
Parvizi said the statement portrayed Palestinian fighters as terrorists who take shelter in kindergartens and hospitals and provoke Israeli bombardments leading to the death of children and civilians.
Kargozaran Managing Director Morteza Sajjadian on Wednesday acknowledged that publishing the statement was a mistake. "In the past week most of the articles and material published by this newspaper had been in support of Gaza's civilians and the publication of this statement was an unintentional mistake," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/01/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
An official spokesman denied Indian media reports on Wednesday that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had made a statement on the arrest of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba operative Zarar Shah. The Prime Minister's House said in a statement that the reports were 'baseless', adding that Gilani "did not issue any such statement".
Many entertainers in the Arab world cancelled their New Year's celebrations as a show of solidarity with Palestinians under siege in Gaza following five days of a ruthless Israeli military offensive against the already beleaguered Strip.
Arab governments will take their case for an end to Israel's attacks on Gaza back to the U.N. Security Council, Arab foreign ministers said on Wednesday
Only if Israel stops its aggression unconditionally, lifts the blockade and opens the Gaza crossings will Hamas agree to "talk about all issues - and seriously," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday night, at the end of the fifth day of the IDF's Operation Cast Lead. In a televised address, the Hamas prime minister added that only after these conditions have been met, will an internal Palestinian dialogue be launched. 
