This is a significant story.
KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. diplomat's scathing charge that the United Nations effectively let Afghanistan's election be stolen has exposed the international community's disunity and may help explain Washington's new doubts about the war.
The outcome of the August 20 election has yet to be decided, amid accusations of massive fraud, and in public all Western diplomatic missions in Kabul say they are reserving judgment until a complaints process is complete.
In a strongly worded letter to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, veteran U.S. diplomat Peter Galbraith accused his Norwegian U.N. boss of blocking anti-fraud efforts, which Galbraith said would have forced a second round of voting if carried out properly.
The United Nations responded by sacking Galbraith. The U.N. mission chief, Kai Eide, has rejected the criticism and says he supports a fraud investigation which is still under way.
But the ramifications of the dispute go far beyond the question of who will occupy the number two post at the mission's headquarters in a secluded compound in central Kabul, and could help decide the future of the eight-year-old war.
Galbraith is a close ally of Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama's waterboy point man for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
U.S. officials have cited the dispute over the election results as one of the main reasons for the Obama administration's unexpected decision last month to begin a new review of its whole policy toward the region.
The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan has asked for tens of thousands of additional troops to carry out an overhauled counter-insurgency strategy that would focus on protecting the Afghan population. Some in the Obama administration favor other options, including scaling the mission back.
In his letter, excerpts of which were published in the New York Times, Galbraith wrote that he had tried to prevent Afghanistan's election commission from including "votes that it knew to be fraudulent" from its preliminary tallies. Galbraith said Eide blocked him from intervening after Afghan President Hamid Karzai complained.
Galbraith can't possibly be so clueless as to understand that the next fair election in central Asia will be the first. He's deliberately stirring the pot, whether at Bambi's orders to set the stage for a pull-out or just based on his own addled idealism.
The U.N. mission chief "sided with Karzai in this matter, seemingly indifferent to the fact that these fraudulent ballots were the ones that put Karzai over 50 percent."
"Given our mandate to support 'free and fair elections' I felt UNAMA could not overlook the fraud without compromising our neutrality and becoming complicit in a cover-up," he wrote, referring to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
In the end, the provisional results gave Karzai 54.6 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a second round run-off. Those results included whole villages where every single vote cast was for Karzai, often with the president receiving exactly 500 or 600 votes at multiple polling stations. Continued...
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's ruling party nominated President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for re-election on Saturday despite an International Criminal Court warrant to arrest him for war crimes.
The Hague-based court says the government of Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 military coup with Islamist backing, committed crimes against humanity while fighting mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur.
The multi-party elections set for April 2010 will be the first in Africa's largest country in 24 years. "The National Congress Party's General Conference has decided to support the nomination of Omar Hassan al-Bashir as (our) candidate for the presidential elections in 2010," the closing communiqué of the party conference, seen by Reuters, said.
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[Bangla Daily Star] The charge sheet in the August 21 grenade blasts case points to a meticulous plot to kill the then opposition chief Sheikh Hasina, but clears up no questions along that line.
Submitted on June 9 last year by Criminal Investigation Department, the charge sheet does not give any details of the plot. It confines itself to describing briefly a few meetings between Huji leaders and the then deputy minister and BNP leader Abdus Salam Pintu just days before the blasts.
It says Abu Taher, then president of Dhaka city Huji, met Mufti Abdul Hannan, prime accused and top leader of Huji, and Ahsanullah Kajal, organising secretary of the outfit's Dhaka city unit, near Mohammadpur Supermarket in the capital, on August 18. He informed the other two that "it has been decided centrally that the August 21 Awami League rally would be attacked to kill them [Hasina and others], and a meeting has been held with Salam Pintu".
Continued on Page 49
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[Bangla Daily Star] Investigators will show detained top Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders Mufti Obaidullah and Monsur Ali arrested in a number of deadly grenade and bomb attack cases soon as the two disclosed significant information about such attacks.
"We already initiated a move to show them arrested in the CPB rally [at Paltan on January 20, 2001] blast cases and having them in remand in those cases today. We suspect they might have been involved in the attack," said a top official in the Criminal Investigation Department.
The official said they are also thinking about having them in remand in a case filed in connection with the grenade attack on Awami League rally on August 21, 2004 that killed 23 AL leaders and workers.
According to information gleaned from the two top Indian militants during interrogation, they had secret meetings at Harkatul Jihad Al Islami leader Mufti Hannan's residence before his arrest in 2005 and had maintained close contacts with Huji leaders who are accused in those cases.
"In those meetings they had elaborate discussions on almost all deadly grenade and bomb attacks," reads the summery of the statements prepared by a law enforcement agency based on interrogations of the two militants.
The attacks include planting of a bomb at Kotalipara to assassinate Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, attack on Udichi function in Jessore, attack on CPB rally at Paltan, Ramna Batamul attack and the attack on former British high commissioner Anwar Choudhury in Sylhet.
Obaidullah has also disclosed that Mufti Hannan used to smuggle in grenades and other explosives from India and Indian national Abdul Baki aided him from India.
During interrogation by detectives and Task Force for Interrogation (TFI), Obaidullah admitted that he had close relations with the accused in August 21, 2004 grenade attack case including Huji leaders Mufti Abdur Rouf, Maulana Abu Taher, twin brothers Morsalin and Mottakin, Abdul Hye, Abu Zihad, Abu Tareq and Maulana Yahia.
Detained Huji leaders Mufti Hannan, Maulana Abu Sayeed and Mufti Abdur Rouf are already charge sheeted accused in a number of deadly grenade attack cases including August 21, 2004 and Ramna Batamul, 2001.
The two militants also said during interrogation that Mufti Hannan led the attack on the AL rally on August 21 and the grenade attack on the then British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury on May 21 in 2004.
Obaidullah said he first visited Bangladesh in 1989 to attend the Biswa Ijtema and visited different Qawmi Madrasas in Chittagong where Huji had a stronghold and even training camps.
He also admitted that Mufti Hannan assisted him in getting a fake Bangladesh passport for a Pakistan national and Lashkar-e-Taiba organiser in Bangladesh Khurram alias Khyyam alias Abdullah.
Both the Indian militant leaders, who sneaked into Bangladesh in 1995 and had been staying in Bangladesh in the guise of Bangladesh citizens, also admitted that top Huji leaders had visited their safe house in Habiganj several times.
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10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Up to 30 high-risk terrorists including some of the most dangerous men in Britain are due to be released from jail in the next year.
More are being freed in the wake of a ruling by Britains most senior judges that long sentences for terrorist crimes could inflame rather than deter extremism.
An analysis of appeal court cases shows that of the 26 terrorism cases it has heard, 25 have led to men with terrorism convictions having their sentences reduced. Others are being released because they serve only part of their term.
The leniency of the British appeal court to some convicted terrorists contrasts with America where they can be locked up for their whole lives.One man designated high risk and due to be freed soon is Andrew Rowe, a Muslim convert who was found guilty of having notes on how to fire mortar bombs.
Rowe was sentenced to 15 years in 2005. He is due to be freed next April after his sentence was reduced to 10 years. Others who have had their terms cut include some of those who helped the failed suicide bombers of July 21, 2005 and two of those convicted of soliciting murder during the Danish cartoons protest.
The sentences were reduced after a key ruling in July 2008 by Lord Phillips, then the lord chief justice, and two other senior judges, who reduced Abdul Rahmans sentence from six to five years following his guilty plea for disseminating a terrorist publication. Rahman, a key al-Qaida player, recruited disaffected Muslims from England to fight British troops in Afghanistan.
SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Saturday it has agreed with Russia to closely cooperate to try to persuade North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program. The agreement was reached at a meeting on Tuesday in Moscow between South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon and Aleksei Borodavkin, Russia's top negotiator on the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, officials at the South's Foreign Ministry said.
"The two sides have agreed to strengthen a high-level consultation channel," a ministry official said, explaining about the Moscow meeting.
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10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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SEOUL, Oct. 3 (Yonhap) -- Robert King, the nominee for the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, is expected to also work as a member of Washington's team working on multilateral talks aimed at denuclearizing the communist country, a diplomatic source said Saturday.
"King is expected to work as a member of Stephen Bosworth's team, with Washington also considering including King in the expected bilateral talks between U.S. and North Korea," said a Seoul official privy on the matter, requesting to be unnamed.
Last month, King, a former Congressional aide and a member of the National Security Council under former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, was named special envoy on North Korean human rights issues, an ambassadorial post, replacing Jay Lefkowitz, who left the post in January after serving under former President George W. Bush. King awaits confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Pyongyang recently invited Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, in an attempt to negotiate a breakthrough in the bilateral talks, but Washington insists it will have bilateral talks only within the six-party framework. U.S. officials said they will make a decision on a possible trip to Pyongyang by Bosworth after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao completes a North Korean trip next week to meet with Kim Jong-il for a possible concession from the North Korean leader.
"Whether King would actually take part in the actual negotiations remains unclear," the Seoul official said, noting that the special envoy's participation could invite opposition from North Korea.
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The veiled women clutch their children's hands as they scurry past the liquor store, ignoring rows of vodka bottles on their way to the Muslim butcher's next door. Across the street, male customers emerge from the Climax sex shop with their purchases and quickly stride away without a second glance at the Turkish kebab restaurant just opening for lunch.
The conservative and liberal, religious and secular, Dutch and foreign stand side by side here in Rotterdam, in a contrasting and at times uneasy coexistence where social and cultural middle ground can be elusive. The job of finding that middle ground has now fallen onto the shoulders of a thoughtful Moroccan-born Muslim who arrived in Rotterdam just nine months ago. His address: the mayor's office.
Ahmed Aboutaleb is the first Muslim immigrant to lead a major Dutch city. The son of an imam, he was appointed mayor of Rotterdam late last year and in January became the official face of the Netherlands' second-largest city.
His is the classic immigrant success story, the saga of a youth who landed in the Netherlands as a teenager, worked hard and climbed the social ladder, first as a journalist, then as a politician in free-wheeling Amsterdam. But his nomination as mayor by political party leaders in Rotterdam, who sought someone of national stature for the largely ceremonial post, took even seasoned observers by surprise. This is, after all, a city where the national clash over immigration and integration, particularly of Muslims, has been at its most volatile.
How the 48-year-old Aboutaleb fares as mayor could well have an effect beyond Rotterdam's borders. With ethnic minorities accounting for almost half its population, the city serves in many ways as a laboratory of demographic change for the rest of the Netherlands, and potentially other parts of Europe.
Thus far into his six-year term, analysts say, the bespectacled Aboutaleb has trod softly, getting a feel for Rotterdam's tricky political landscape. Though he is a member of the city's ruling left-wing Labor Party, as mayor he is supposed to hold himself above party politics. Within the last several weeks, however, Aboutaleb has said that he intends to step into the debate on integration. Although he has not specified how, it will mean navigating a minefield of competing beliefs, agendas and power plays by politicians, activists and bureaucrats. "That is quite a risk for him, because if he fails . . . there is nobody above him," said Rinus van Schendelen, a professor of political science at Rotterdam's Erasmus University.
As mayor, Aboutaleb must gingerly maneuver a cultural war pitting those who believe Dutch liberal, secular society to be under threat from a growing religious minority against others who say that Muslims and other immigrants have been unfairly scapegoated. Right-wing politicians demanded that Aboutaleb demonstrate his loyalty by giving up his Moroccan passport (he holds dual nationality). Geert Wilders, the country's most inflammatory public figure, declared that Aboutaleb's appointment was "as ridiculous as appointing a Dutchman as mayor of Mecca."
Muslims, by contrast, were excited that one of their own had risen so high -- an "Obama on the Maas," as some have dubbed him, for the river that runs through Rotterdam. "I was really happy that he became mayor," said pharmacist Jilani Sayed, 29. "A mayor has to hold the city together. He's got the potential to do that."
The mayor's job is largely ceremonial, with the big exception of public safety and police, which comes under his supervision. But what the post lacks in direct authority it makes up for in influence and longevity. "After every election, you are the one that stays. . . . So people start trusting you as the consistent part of the city government," said Marco Pastors, head of Livable Rotterdam, the right-wing party of Fortuyn. "People look up to you, and when you are looked up to, you have powers."
Friends and foes praise him for spending his first months on a listening tour of various neighborhoods, to help damp skepticism over the fact that he comes not just from Morocco but -- as egregious for some -- from Amsterdam, Rotterdam's big rival. But there have been missteps. Critics questioned an official trip Aboutaleb took to Morocco in June, during which he met the country's foreign minister and appeared to step on the toes of the Dutch central government.
In August, a dance party for thousands of beachgoers devolved into pandemonium and brawls in which one man was killed. The mayor, criticized for not assigning enough police officers to patrol the event, ordered a two-year ban on such parties. And in a foretaste of the challenges that await in the simmering caldron of immigration issues, the city in August fired integration advisor Tariq Ramadan, a well-known Islamic scholar. City officials said Ramadan's hosting of a show on Iranian state television could be perceived as an endorsement of the regime in Tehran.
Although he had no role in the decision, Aboutaleb expressed support for it. That, in turn, outraged many Muslims here, especially the young, with whom Ramadan was a popular reformist figure. "Aboutaleb goes with the wind of politics," said entrepreneur Abdel Hafid Bouzidi, 30, who is of Moroccan descent. "He goes too much to the right." Right-wing politicians certainly laud Aboutaleb for criticizing his own and insist that he keep on doing so.
Before his appointment as mayor, his highest-profile moment came during the national uproar after the 2004 slaying of anti-Islamic filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist who shot him and slit his throat. Speaking at an Amsterdam mosque, Aboutaleb sternly told Dutch Muslims that if they did not subscribe to the Netherlands' values of tolerance and openness, they ought to catch the first plane out.
Aboutaleb has acknowledged the pressure on him, especially from foes "who expect me to fail." "If I can succeed, I will be a key element in persuading immigrant communities that they can have access to power. If I fail, it will have huge consequences for those coming behind me afterwards," he told a British newspaper soon after taking office.
"My job is to build bridges, and Rotterdam is a good place to do that," he said. "This is the city of big projects where the sky is the limit, but also a city with high levels of poverty. My job is to be mayor for everyone, from the businessmen to the kid from Suriname just trying to earn a living."
#1
In a way it's comical that a secular country such as The Netherlands, which is so proud of its liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage now finds itself in a political struggle with the homophobic, intolerance of Muslims.
So it appears Mr. closet imam Aboutaleb is between a rock and a hard place. Please pass the popcorn.
#2
The thoughtful will wish him the best of luck. A few years ago the mayor of Nogales, Sonora was a Palestinian and things worked out fine - mainly because he considered himself a Mexican first; and secondly because that while Northern Mexico has a considerable minority of Muslims, it is nothing on the scale of Holland's (unassimilated) Mohammadean population.
An executive board member of Germany's federal bank, the Bundesbank, said Thursday he regrets making disparaging remarks about the Arab and Turkish populations in Berlin.
Thilo Sarrazin, who previously served as finance minister for Berlin, came under fire for saying in an interview that Turks and Arabs in the capital are not interested in, and not capable of, integrating into German society.
"I do not need to accept anyone who lives on handouts from a state that it rejects, is not adequately concerned about the education of their children and constantly produces new, little headscarf-clad girls," Sarrazin was quoted as telling Lettre International quarterly magazine in its most recent issue that hit newsstands earlier this week.
"That goes for 70 percent of the Turkish and 90 percent of the Arabic population of Berlin."
On Thursday, Sarrazin issued a statement saying he had not intended to insult anyone. "Please, don't kill me"
"My intent was to clearly describe the perspective and problems facing the city of Berlin, not to discriminate against individual ethnic groups," Sarrazin told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
The Bundesbank issued a statement already Wednesday saying it "decisively distances itself" from Sarrazin's remarks, which "in no way relate to (his) responsibilities at the Bundesbank."
Berlin police have also said they have launched an investigation to determine whether the remarks could be considered as inciting racial hatred. Burn the witch!
Also
Berlin's former Finance Minister Thilo Sarrazin has blasted the German capital for what he regards as too big an "underclass," too many unproductive immigrants and a leftist mentality. His employer, the Bundesbank, has been quick to distance itself from his remarks.
Berlin likes to think of itself as a hip and multicultural sort of place -- full of artists, writers and DJs living on a shoestring while pursuing the creative life. Mayor Klaus Wowereit has even turned the vice of its relative penury and high unemployment into a virtue, famously describing the city as "poor, but sexy."
However, the city's former finance minister, Thilo Sarrazin, has now tried to punch holes in that image, slamming the city's large immigrant population for not being productive enough and blaming Berlin's leftist mentality for holding the German capital back.
Sarrazin's provocative interview with Berlin-based culture magazine Lettre International has provoked his current employers, the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, to take the unusual step of distancing itself from him.
The former finance minister, who is now a member of the Bundesbank board and works in Frankfurt, had little good to say about his former home. In the interview, he argued that Berlin would "never be saved by the Berliners."
Citing the high jobless rate in the city, he said part of the problem lay in the fact that "40 percent of births were in the underclass," which was causing the standards in schools to decrease instead of increase
#4
ISRAELI MILITARY FORUM > MEMRI > AL QAEDA PLANS TO ATTACK [Multiple TerrStrikes?] GERMANY ON A SUNDAY IN OCTOBER??? "DEATH BE UPON YOU" = The MilTerrs are nice enough to first give warning to the Infidel Crusader Euro-State of Germany.
[Dawn] A Pakistani court on Saturday adjourned for a second time a hearing for seven suspects accused by India of plotting the deadly Mumbai attacks last year, a lawyer said.
New Delhi has been pressuring Islamabad to speed up the probe of Pakistani militants believed to be behind the Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people.
India and Washington blamed the November attacks on Pakistan's banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the siege stalled a fragile four-year peace process between the two countries.
'The hearing has been adjourned until the 10th of October,' said Shahbaz Rajput, a defence lawyer representing two of the suspects.
Because the proceedings at an anti-terrorism court are going on behind closed doors, Rajput said he could not disclose the reason for the second postponement, or give any details of the case.
The seven accused were present at Saturday's proceedings, he added.
The hearing had originally been scheduled to begin on July 25, but was postponed then as the judge was on leave.
The anti-terrorism court has been set up in the high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, a garrison city adjoining the capital, Islamabad.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik in July said that the seven men would soon be charged over the 60-hour rampage but called on India to provide more information to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Those in custody include the alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and alleged key LeT operative Zarar Shah.
India has put on trial Pakistan's Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai attacks and who has made a dramatic confession.
India insists it will resume talks to normalise ties only after Pakistan brings to justice the alleged perpetrators and has blamed Pakistani 'official agencies' for abetting the assault - a claim Islamabad flatly denies.
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York late last month, foreign ministers from both nations met to discuss the impasse.
India's SM Krishna said investigations into the Mumbai plot must 'gather further momentum.' His counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi assured Krishna that the seven men would be tried, but urged dialogue on all bilateral issues.
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Ma'an -- Islamic Jihad's armed wing expects Israel to renew attacks on Gaza soon, an official alleged on Saturday.
Abu Ahmad, spokesman for the Al-Quds Brigades, said "developments" had led the militant wing to suspect Israel was planning an imminent but unspecified incursion in "the coming days or weeks." He did not elaborate.
But he also applauded Thursday's agreement that saw 19 Palestinian women and girls released from Israeli prisons after Hamas produced a video proving that captured soldier Gilad Shalit was still alive.
"The Al-Quds Brigades believe the big swap was honorable at every stage, as the resistance will never bow to Israeli pressure," he said. "We will not tolerate foreign intervention pushing a deal forward at any price."
He added that Islamic Jihad considered the partial swap a victory not only for the freed prisoners, but for Shalit's captors, as well, and despite "political pressure to hand him over [without an extended deal]."
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Ma'an -- The leader of the Islamic Movement inside Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, on Friday said Israeli religious groups may break into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound next week during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Dozens of Palestinians were injured when Israeli police used batons and stun grenades to disperse protesters who reportedly threw stones inside the compound in objection to the arrival of settlers last week.
"We consider ourselves in a state of alert, taking up positions at Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially from Sunday, 4 October until the end of the week," the sheikh said in a statement distributed by Al-Aqsa Foundation for Heritage and Rehabilitation. He called on Muslims, if allowed by authorities to access Jerusalem, to be present at the compound throughout the week.
Salah warned of consequences he said could result from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government's purported policy of excavating new tunnels under the mosque area.
"We warn that Netanyahu, this political madman, may burn everything. He challenged Muslims in 1996 and excavated a tunnel under Al-Aqsa Mosque and that led to the eruption of the Tunnel Uprising," Salah said. "I am afraid today that Netanyahu may excavate a new tunnel."
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Hours after Israel released 19 female Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a video proving captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was alive, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Friday night threatened to capture more Israeli soldiers in order to win the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
In a speech in Damascus, Syria, Mashaal congratulated the Palestinian people on the release of the prisoners and promised to work for the release of thousands of Palestinians held by Israel.
Those who were able to capture Schalit and hold him safely for more than three years are capable of capturing "Schalit and Schalit and Schalit until there was not even one prisoner in the enemy's jails," Mashaal said.
The Damascus-based leader's comments were followed by remarks from Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri, who on Friday night said that the prisoner release proved that Israel had no choice but to give in to the group's demands. "The Zionist enemy has no choice but to accept Hamas's demands," Masri reportedly said.
According to Channel 10, Masri told the Hamas television network that "the fact that 20 female prisoners were released today helps Hamas, and the passing time does not help the Zionist enemy, but rather strengthens our position."
The Hamas spokesman said that even though it could take a long time, the negotiations with Israel would lead to a prisoner exchange deal. "The negotiations over the deal are being held slowly and will continue for a long time, but we are sure they will be successful," he was quoted as saying.
On Friday, Israel almost completed its share of the deal, releasing 19 prisoners, 18 to the West Bank and one to Gaza. The 20th prisoner will be released Sunday, after it turned out that a prisoner released Wednesday was about to complete her sentence and would therefore be released regardless of the deal.
Earlier Friday, the prisoners were transferred in four Israel Prison Service vehicles from Hasharon Prison to Ofer Prison and Hashikma Prison, where they were examined by officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross to ascertain that they were in good health.
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#1
So much for "thank you". Don't know what the israelis were thinking - trading 20 terrorists for a piece of tape.
#2
What's sad is that, despite all the venting and (purposelly engineered) hype about Israel "being above International Law, committing war crimes, being unspeakably brutal against the Indigenous Noble Savages, etc, etc....", from both ends of the spectrum (got that from moonbats & wingnusts), the israeli could find a creative response to this... madness (IE kidnapping and organized terror as a way of State policy and international relations) that characterizes the arab/muslim collective mindset.
Really, it won't happen unless there is a global "OH SH8T!!!!!" moment and then all bets are off but... what would have happened should the israeli have kidnapped back some paleos hotshots, and maybe scores and scores of cogs? You know, snuffed a few and buried them w/o head or with bacon in th e mouth and then mailed the vids or aired that on paleos teevee... just to show they are serious and that any kidnapped soldier had better be handed back soon in excellent health, or the muslim hostages will get the same treatment, and this would be just the beginning.
I know, this is pure fantasy, but I wonder if the arabs would have put up with so much crap over the years, had they been given the SAME treatment back. You know, like, "What would Uncle Stalin Do?". Would the paleos keep with that, faced with the ACTUAL certainty the israeli would give them back the syrian (see hama) or jordanian (see black september) treatment? No, they wouldn't.
Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists believed by the Israelis to be helping Iran to develop a nuclear warhead. He is said to have delivered the list during a mysterious visit to Moscow.
"We have heard that Netanyahu came with a list and concrete evidence showing that Russians are helping the Iranians to develop a bomb," said a source close to the Russian defence minister last week.
"That is why it was kept secret. The point is not to embarrass Moscow, rather to spur it into action."
Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli deputy defence minister, warned that time was running out for action to stop the programme.
"If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike," he said. "If we are left alone, we will act alone."
Israeli sources said it was a short, tense meeting at which Netanyahu named the Russian experts said to be assisting Iran in its nuclear programme.
In western capitals the latest claims were treated with caution. American and British officials argued that the involvement of freelance Russian scientists belonged to the past.
American officials said concern about Russian experts acting without official approval, had been raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in a report more than a year ago.
"There has been Russian help. It is not the government, it is individuals, at least one helping Iran on weaponisation activities and it is worrisome," said David Albright, a former weapons inspector who is president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
However, Israeli officials insist that any Russian scientists working in Iran could do so only with official approval.
Robert Einhorn, the special adviser for non-proliferation and arms control to Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is understood to believe that Russian companies have also supplied material that has been used by Iran in the production of ballistic missiles.
Iran's conduct over the next few weeks will determine whether the West continues its new dialogue or is compelled to increase pressure with tougher United Nations and other sanctions.
Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli deputy defence minister, warned that time was running out for action to stop the programme. "If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike," he said. "If we are left alone, we will act alone."
#2
Compare with the German/Nazi scientists who helped Nasser develop missles in the 1950's. Given the nature of the nuclear weaponry being developed the current situation is infinitely more evil while the purpose remains the same - kill Jews...
A-Pee story. Click the link and suck up their bandwidth to read the whole thing. Here's the teaser:
Iran's president hit back Saturday at President Barack Obama's accusation that his country had sought to hide its construction of a new nuclear site, arguing that Tehran reported the facility to the U.N. even earlier than required.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The head of the U.N. nuclear agency arrived in Iran on Saturday for talks on a timetable for inspectors to visit a newly disclosed nuclear enrichment plant, state radio reported.
"Mohamed Elbaradei arrived in Iran to meet Iranian officials. He will discuss Iran's nuclear program with the officials," it said.
The head of the UN atomic watchdog arrived in Tehran on Saturday to meet Iranian atomic officials after Washington and its allies demanded quick progress in revived talks on Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Waste of time, I suppose he's got to go through with this Kabuki Dance to save his Job, but don't expect anything but words out of this.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/04/2009 11:06 Comments ||
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#2
I am surprised someone from the IAEA could even find Iran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says corporate media has turned into a weapon of subterfuge, with the sole aim of advancing the West's political agenda.
In a Saturday address to the Islamic Radio and TV Union Assembly, Ahmadinejad cited random examples of political bias in US and European media outlets.
As a first example of biased reporting in the West, Ahmadinejad pointed to the scant media coverage of Israel's three-week attack on Gaza, which killed over 1500 Palestinians mostly women and children, earlier in the year.
"Israelis easily used thousands of bombs against the defenseless population of Gaza Strip, who were stripped of medicine and their most essential needs. Now, eight months have passed and we see that the event has been already sunk into oblivion."
Ahmadinejad said criticism of Israel and its actions has become 'off limits' in American and European media.
Then, Ahmadinejad turned to the sheer lack of media attention to the brutal murder of Marwa el-Sherbini, a pregnant Egyptian woman who was stabbed to death in a German courtroom while the whole jury and court officials stood by and watched.
Last but not least, Ahmadinejad pointed to the recent media hype over Iran's second nuclear enrichment plant. "In the past few days, we saw Western media outlets repeating false accusations against Iran's nuclear issue."
"This is how the Western media works. First they >distort facts and fabricate news. Then they incessantly repeat their false allegations, just to make sure that it is forever etched on the minds of people," he said.
"[US President Barack Obama] made a huge mistake when he accused Iran of secrecy and gave rise to the recent torrent of false reports," said President Ahmadinejad.
Referring to the sudden commotion over the newly-revealed Fordu nuclear facility in southern Tehran, President Ahmadinejad said Iran has always kept the IAEA posted on its enrichment work in line with its policy of transparency.
"Our activities are entirely based on honesty and transparency. There are no secrets between us and the IAEA whatsoever," he noted.
Ahmadinejad warned that the mainstream media in the West has grown to become more dangerous and more threatening than any chemical or nuclear weapons.
"The media campaign has turned into a full-fledged war. I believe the West's abundant arsenals of chemical and nuclear weapons are there to deceive and intimidate," he said.
According to President Ahmadinejad, unbiased media does not exist in the West. "Claims of freedom of press are all lies, each and every one of the western media outlets serve the interests and policies of their states," he said.
"When I was in New York for the General Assembly, I was interviewed by several news networks, all of which asked the exact same set of questions," he said.
"I asked them how can you call yourself an independent media, when all the questions you are asking me have been clearly dictated by your governments. Which one of these questions are posed in the interest of your people?" he noted.
President Ahmadinejad said Iran's mission today is not limited to spreading information. Our main responsibility today is to defend humanity and to create a global culture in support of the oppressed people, he explained.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Mahmoud... Shut up, juice! I don't listen to mossad agents, YOU should know that. Now, go back to your secret Zionist Subversive Ring and go do some usury or something, you've bothered us enough, pretending you were the iranian president instead of the double-agent you really are. We've seen through your lies, oh, yes, we have.
An Army lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq in 2006, saying he believed the war was illegal, has officially left the service.
Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek confirmed that Ehren Watada was discharged Friday.
Watada was charged with missing his unit's deployment and with conduct unbecoming an officer for denouncing President Bush and the war - statements he made while explaining his actions. His court-martial ended in a mistrial in February 2007.
The Army wanted to try him in a second court-martial, but a federal judge said a second trial on key charges, including missing troop movement, would violate Watada's constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy.
Watada lawyer Kenneth Kagan said last week that the Army had finally allowed his client to resign. Kagan added that Watada was granted a discharge "under other than honorable conditions."
#1
A retrial after a mistrial is not double jeopardy. Double jeopardy would be a retrial after an acquittal, and a mistrial is not an acquittal. Or am I missing something?
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.
