#1
The PROPAGANDA war is right.
The Afghanis hate them,
The West can beat them militarily.
The only way they can win is to influence (through PROPAGANDA) the whiny 5th column liberals in the USA.
Hey, it worked before with Vietnam and Iraq
Why not try it again?
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/13/2010 21:51 Comments ||
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#2
keeping it real:
The Good Old Days Are Really Gone
January 13, 2010: Civilian deaths (2,412) were up 14 percent last year. The increase was entirely due to many more Taliban attacks on civilians. Taliban activity accounted for 70 percent of the civilian deaths. A quarter of the civilian deaths were caused by government forces or foreign troops (who killed 30 percent fewer civilians last year, than the year before.) The Taliban media campaign has tried to demonize smart bombs, which are the most effective weapon against the Taliban. Such bombs accounted for 15 percent of civilian deaths, and most of the ones that grab headlines. Smart bombs cause about 60 percent of civilian deaths caused by government and foreign troops.
The Taliban has increasingly relied on terror to control civilians. Such control is essential if the Taliban are to remain hidden from government forces and foreign troops. Increasingly, the Taliban cannot rely on friendly relationships with civilians. There is much to hate about the Taliban. They are arrogant and self-righteous, qualities that are as unpopular in Afghanistan as anywhere else. The Taliban also insist on "voluntary" contributions of food and the use of buildings (for living, storing equipment or making bombs). Many Taliban are intolerant of modern conveniences, like cell phones, video or music players. What is most offensive is the Taliban insistence that girls not go to school. It's bad enough that half the men are illiterate, but even the most isolated Afghans have figured out that illiteracy and lack of education is a major reason for the poverty. Afghanistan is the poorest country in Eurasia. This is a distinction that rankles Afghans, and the Taliban are not helping to change it.
Then there are the drugs. The Taliban protect the production and movement of opium and heroin. Worse, the Taliban protect the distribution of the drugs to Afghans. It's rough for tribe and clan leadership to deal with addiction problems when they can't stop the supply of drugs. In the end, the drugs are the key problem. The heroin and opium trade supplies the cash that keeps the Taliban going, and the growing number of addicts has turned most of the population against the people responsible.
The Taliban are not only self-righteous, but greedy and cruel. The farmers in Helmand province, where most of the world's heroin comes from, are treated as cogs in a machine, and not allowed to freely sell their poppies (which produce opium, that is refined into heroin). The drug gangs, and their Taliban enforcers, set the prices, and punish anyone who gets out of line. Most of the money goes to the top, to the warlords who control the drug operations, and Taliban leaders who provide the muscle. Thus when the Taliban show up in some distant part of the country, the locals know that they are not only in for some very conservative religious attitude, but also drug addiction and murderous violence towards those who resist. Thus it should be no surprise that the Taliban keep sinking in popularity polls. Never very popular to begin with, the Taliban have been unable to demonize the American and NATO troops as "hostile foreigners." The Americans have been around for nearly a decade, and are generally considered as odd, but friendly, guys you don't want to get in a fight with. Most Afghans appreciate American help in driving the Taliban from power in 2001, and helping with the drug problem. Some 80 percent of Afghanistan is free of drug production, but not drug distribution and addiction. The Americans are helping with that, as they have also been with useful stuff like building roads, schools and medical clinics. They try to learn the language and customs, and some of them are actually Afghans (which is particularly attractive, as many young Afghans would like to go to the West.)
For U.S. troops who served in Iraq, and arriving in Afghanistan for the first time, they are finding two major differences. First, living conditions are more Spartan (because Afghanistan has no ports, and everything has to be trucked or flown in). Second, it's not as violent as Iraq was at its peak (but more violent than Iraq is now, which encourages American troops that victory is in sight.) While it's become more violent in Afghanistan in the last year, it's still much less dangerous for U.S. troops than it was for those fighting in Vietnam, Korea or World War II. The casualty rate in Afghanistan today is less than a third of what it was in those previous wars. This doesn't get picked up by the mass media much, but the troops know. Military history is popular with many troops, and the word gets around that the Afghan war is a lot less dangerous than previous ones. It's not by chance, but because of better equipment, weapons, tactics and leadership. The lower casualty rate makes troops bolder, less stressed, and more effective. The older Taliban, with experience fighting the Russians in the 1980s, noted this early on, and warned their young associates to be careful when fighting the American and NATO troops. These new foreigners are much more aggressive, and dangerous, than the Russians (who were mostly poorly trained conscripts). The Taliban old timers remember that the Russians had some aggressive, and effective, troops in the form of Spetsnaz commandos and paratroopers. There weren't many of them, but with the Americans, everyone seems to be a commando. So the Taliban rely more on roadside bombs and mines. And the Americans come right after the people who make and employ this new weapon. Some Taliban are getting discouraged by all this. Especially with the Pakistani Taliban getting hammered by the Pakistani Army. It wasn't this way back in the 1980s, when the Russians were lousy fighters, and safe base camps in Pakistan were full of rich Arabs giving out equipment, weapons and cash. These days, there's no safe haven, and you have to protect drug dealers in order to make the payroll or buy new gear. Worse, most Afghans hate the Taliban. The good old days are really gone, and more Taliban are just giving it up.
The Taliban also know that more American troops are on the way. The American tactics of spreading these new troops out, in territory the Taliban thought they controlled, has worked. The Taliban are searching for new ideas, because without much support from the population, and an enemy you cannot defeat in combat, the prospects don't look so good. Thus the Taliban are increasing their Information War efforts, by planting more atrocity stories (some invented, some taking actual incidents and altering them). This obviously works. While the Taliban kill five times as many civilians as government and foreign troops, most of the media coverage is of Afghans killed by foreigners.
One of the best assets the Taliban have is the Afghan government. These politicians and appointed officials are very corrupt, and most can be bought or rented. They are constantly squabbling over who should be able to steal what. Currently, the installation of a new government is stalled because suitable deals cannot be made. The legislature rejected 17 of president Karzai's 24 new cabinet members. So new proposals are being formulated. All this haggling takes time.
January 11, 2010: Police arrested Ahmad Gul, the man responsible for recent rocket attacks in Kabul. Gul worked for a section of the Taliban that specialized in terror attacks. Police are searching for Guls associates, and those who provided support (safe houses, storage for rockets, and transport to get rockets into Kabul.) Gul's attacks did little damage, and were mostly for getting the attention of journalists. The small (meter long) 107mm rockets were set up and rigged to fire via a timer. Although very inaccurate, the rockets would always hit something in crowded Kabul.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/13/2010 22:01 Comments ||
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Civilian deaths (2,412) were up 14 percent last year. The increase was entirely due to many more Taliban attacks on civilians. Taliban activity accounted for 70 percent of the civilian deaths. A quarter of the civilian deaths were caused by government forces or foreign troops (who killed 30 percent fewer civilians last year, than the year before.) The Taliban media campaign has tried to demonize smart bombs, which are the most effective weapon against the Taliban. Such bombs accounted for 15 percent of civilian deaths, and most of the ones that grab headlines. Smart bombs cause about 60 percent of civilian deaths caused by government and foreign troops.
The Taliban also know that more American troops are on the way. The American tactics of spreading these new troops out, in territory the Taliban thought they controlled, has worked. The Taliban are searching for new ideas, because without much support from the population, and an enemy you cannot defeat in combat, the prospects don't look so good. Thus the Taliban are increasing their Information War efforts, by planting more atrocity stories (some invented, some taking actual incidents and altering them). This obviously works. While the Taliban kill five times as many civilians as government and foreign troops, most of the media coverage is of Afghans killed by foreigners.
Posted by: ed ||
01/13/2010 10:30 ||
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#1
While the Taliban kill five times as many civilians as government and foreign troops, most of the media coverage is of Afghans killed by foreigners.
Most of media coverage and all of Karzai's indignation.
Nearly seven in 10 Afghans support the presence of U.S. forces in their country, and 61 percent favor the military buildup of 37,000 U.S. and NATO reinforcements now deploying, according to a poll released Monday.
Support for U.S. and NATO forces, however, drops sharply in the south and east where the fighting is the most intense, the poll said. Nationwide, 10 percent of Afghans support the Taliban, but the insurgents are backed by a higher percent of the population - 27 percent - in the country's southwest, the poll said.
After steep declines in recent years, nearly seven in 10 Afghans also think their nation is headed in the right direction. That's up 30 percent since January 2009. The number of Afghans who expect their lives will be better a year from now also has jumped 20 percentage points from a year ago - to a new high of 71 percent, the poll said.
Overall, 42 percent of Afghans blame the Taliban for the violence - up 27 percent from a year ago. Seventeen percent blame the U.S. and NATO, or the Afghan government or Afghan security forces - down 36 percent from a year ago.
Posted by: ed ||
01/13/2010 09:44 ||
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#1
Compare wid REDDIT > SURVEY indics a majority of Americans are willing to give up a number of PERSONAL/CIVIL LIBERTIES in order to protect from Terrorism.
[Quqnoos] The top US commander in Afghanistan says troop surge has turned the tide against the Taliban.
"We've been at this for about seven months now and I believe we've made progress," General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with ABC television on Monday.
But he added: "It's not a completed mission yet."
President Barack Obama last month approved McChrystal's request for a major increase in US troops in Afghanistan, ordering 30,000 reinforcements.
McChrystal issued a warning to Obama in September, saying the Afghan mission could fail without more troops.
Asked if NATO-led forces were shifting the momentum against Taliban insurgents, the general said: "I believe we're doing it right now.
"I believe we've changed the way we operate in Afghanistan. We've changed some of our structures. I believe we are on the way to convincing the Afghan people that we are here to protect them."
Afghan analysts say 2010 is a crucial and decisive year in Afghanistan and predict a bloody year for both foreign and Afghan forces.
Yesterday alone, five international soldiers were killed in different attacks in south and eastern region of the country, making it the deadliest day for foreign troops in two months.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Sure would have been nice to have those troops A WHILE AGO. The Diddler in Chief could have started the process a long time ago and then figured out when to shut off the spigot. But no, he has to have a perfect plan in an imperfect world in place before he'll even think about it.
#3
That's easy, bman. You just pick up your marker, move it to where you want it to be, and place it carefully down on the board. What more can there be?
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir retired as commander-in-chief of the army, state media said on Monday, in what sources said was a procedural move before the first multi-party elections in 24 years.
"President Omar Hassan al-Bashir today issued a decree retiring (himself as) the commander-in-chief of the armed forces," state news agency SUNA said. It mentioned no replacement.
Official nominations for the April elections will begin on Tuesday and analysts have said Bashir was trying to distance himself from his military past before his nomination by the dominant National Congress Party (NCP).
"This decree and the timing of it can be read in the context of his nomination expected tomorrow for the presidential elections," one source in the presidency told Reuters.
Another added: "This is only because of the elections -- it is just a procedure."
Elections to parliament and state governorships will be held at the same time as the presidential vote.
The deputy head of Sudan's elections commission said there was no requirement in the election law for Bashir to resign his military post.
Opposition Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi belittled the move: "He has already pretty much delegated this job to his defense minister," he told Reuters.
"His people close to him are very much so loyal and so close to him... that he will just appoint one of them as the chief and it won't matter much," added Turabi, who split from Bashir's party in 1999/2000.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] The Algerian League for Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) on Monday (January 11th), denounced the "illegal and violent" week-end attack on a Christian church in Tizi Ouzou, El Watan reported. "This act is an ominous sign of the expression of a sense of intolerance," the LADDH said about the burning and looting of a Protestant church on January 9th.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A prominent Saudi scholar has issued a fatwa banning Muslims from joining al-Qaeda and labeled it a violation of Islam's teachings, press reports said on Tuesday, amid concerns about the growing strength of operatives in Yemen.
Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obeikan, a top religious scholar and an advisor in the court of King Abdullah, said Muslims who join the militant group and engage in terrorist operations are deviating from the right path of Islam, Saudi newspaper Okaz quoted him as saying.
"Affiliation with the so-called al-Qaeda group is haram," meaning banned in Islam, al-Obeikan told the paper, adding "It is strictly prohibited to legitimatize the shedding of blood of other Muslims without having the right to do so."
Obeikan reiterated the official Saudi view that Qaeda's ideology was one of forbidden "takfirism," which accuses others of apostasy to justify murdering them.
Anyone who joins al-Qaeda "belongs to a group that has adopted takfir thinking," he said.
Although there are no more al-Qaeda members in Saudi, the terrorist group is gaining ground in neighboring Yemen, which is now becoming the main base of their operations in the Arabian Peninsula.
Obeikan, who has played a major role in rehabilitation programs of repentant militants, called on al-Qaeda members in Yemen to repent and turn themselves in to the authorities.
The cleric also warned that "Muslims should not also rise against their leaders or create strife among people."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
First the terror philosophers each wrote books saying they were wrong: the Muslim Brotherhood man jailed in Egypt who so upset Al Qaeda's Dr. al-Zawahiri, the group from the Maghreb, and then the conference followed closely by so many jailed jihadis. Now this, from the holy land itself. Granted, he is only one of many, many fatwa issuing clerics, but even so.
LONDON A close aide to former Prime Minister Tony Blair made a defiantly unrepentant appearance on Tuesday before the panel investigating Britain's involvement in the Iraq war, saying Britain should be really proud of the role that we played in changing Iraq from what it was to what it is now becoming.'
Under five hours of questioning, the longest any witness has spent before the panel since the inquiry began in November, the aide, Alastair Campbell, former communications director for Mr. Blair, offered an unapologetic view of the war that contrasted strongly with the often tentative and regretful tone of senior officials who preceded him as witnesses.
At one point, plunging into an issue that has been a touchstone for many in Britain who believe that the country was deceived by Mr. Blair over intelligence indicating that Saddam Hussein had chemical or biological weapons, Mr. Campbell said he defended every single word' of a controversial government dossier produced by 10 Downing Street in September 2002, which cited intelligence indicating that Iraq could launch such weapons within 45 minutes.
Mr. Campbell, who was closely involved in the dossier's preparation, denied he had tried to beef up' judgments made by the principal author of the dossier, Sir John Scarlett, a top intelligence official who was later appointed by Mr. Blair to lead MI6, Britain's secret intelligence service. The 45-minute claim has often been cited by war opponents as evidence of the readiness of Mr. Blair and his officials to cite any evidence, however dubious, in support of their determination to go to war.
At no point did anybody from the prime minister down say to anybody within the intelligence services, You have got to tailor it to fit this judgment or that judgment' ' Mr. Campbell said. The whole way through, it could not have been made clearer to anybody that nothing would override the intelligence judgments and that John Scarlett was the person, if you like, who had the single pen.'
Mr. Campbell's testimony set the stage for Mr. Blair's appearance before the inquiry later this month or early in February. The former prime minister has struck a similarly assertive tone, telling the BBC in an interview last month that he would still have thought it right' to remove Saddam Hussein by force even if he had known that the Iraqi dictator had not possessed nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. He said Mr. Hussein and his government were a threat to the region' even without unconventional weapons.
The inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, a retired official with close career links to Britain's intelligence services, was established by Gordon Brown, Mr. Blair's successor as prime minister, who promised to establish a wide-ranging investigation of Britain's role in Iraq when he took the job in 2007. Two previous inquiries established under Mr. Blair were more narrowly focused, and reached conclusions that many war opponents felt were too sparing of Mr. Blair and other powerful officials, including Mr. Campbell, part of the inner circle that drove the decision to go to war.
Mr. Campbell is a former tabloid newspaper reporter who became powerful through his close personal relationship with Mr. Blair. Already a highly contentious figure, he resigned amid the controversy that erupted in the summer of 2003 after a leading British weapons specialist, David Kelly, whom Mr. Campbell and others accused of making misleading statements to a BBC journalist about the government's statements on Iraq's weapons, was found dead with his wrist slashed on a hill near his Oxfordshire home.
Mr. Campbell's testimony was filled with instances of the uncompromising approach that caused even senior cabinet ministers to treat him with care. He was unrelenting in his backing for Mr. Blair and for the approach he took to removing Mr. Hussein. You seem to be wanting me to say that Tony Blair signed up to say, Regardless of the facts, regardless of W.M.D., we are just going to get rid of the guy,' he said. It was not like that.'
The inquiry panel has heard lengthy testimony from other officials about Mr. Blair's approach in the year before the war, and whether the prime minister gave President Bush a pledge that Britain would join in an invasion of Iraq long before indicating anything of the kind to his cabinet or to the British public. Mr. Campbell offered a few glancing insights, saying Mr. Blair had written a number of private letters to President Bush in the year before the war about their effort to force Mr. Hussein to disarm, and that the tenor' of the prime minister's message had been, If that can't be done diplomatically and it has to be done militarily, Britain will be there.'
He added, I think that Britain, far from beating ourselves up about this, should be really proud of the role that we played in changing Iraq from what it was to what it is now becoming.'
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Blair bugs the hell out of the extreme left, because he gives left wing legitimacy to W. Bush. If they could just convince Blair to say that he was wrong, then they could go even nuttier against Bush.
F--- you. What an ass. The people who need to "repent" are the ones who took blood [of Saddam's victims] for oil contracts with Saddam-- over $1b worth for Russia's LUKoil, and many many times that sum for France's TotalFinaElf, which signed a sweetheart deal in late 2002 to develop one-third of Iraq's entire known reserves.
#1
VARIOUS NETTERS > the WAKKHAN CORRIDOR also works agz CHINA as a strategic route of advance into Western China + CENTRAL ASIAN OIL FIELDS for the USA + alleged US Terror Proxies???
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Tuesday dismissed a call by North Korea for talks on formally ending the Korean War with a peace treaty, saying such dialogue can only be held after North Korea returns to talks on ending its nuclear ambition and makes progress in its denuclearization.
"We have expressed our position on a number of occasions that if the six-party talks are resumed and there is progress in the process of North Korea's denuclearization, the relevant countries can negotiate a peace treaty in a separate forum as stated in the Sept. 19 joint declaration," Kim Young-sun, a spokesman for Seoul's foreign ministry, said in a statement.
The statement came one day after the North's foreign ministry said its return to the nuclear negotiations, also attended by South Korea, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia, hinges on the start of talks for a peace agreement that will replace the 1953 Korean armistice.
Under a six-party accord signed on Sept. 19, 2005, North Korea agreed in principle to denuclearize in exchange for economic and political concessions from the international community, including the normalization of ties with the U.S.
The remarks from the South Korean official followed a rejection of the North Korean demand by the U.S., which also said such dialogue on a peace treaty will take place only after the North returns to the six-nation nuclear talks and begins to denuclearize.
"We urge North Korea to immediately return to the six-party talks and begin taking irreversible denuclearization measures," Kim said.
The ministry spokesman also urged the North to begin seriously considering Seoul's proposal for a "grand bargain," noting the proposed deal could adequately address Pyongyang's security concerns.
"The idea of the grand bargain we proposed is to seek a comprehensive solution of issues, including the elements of the Sept. 19 joint declaration, so we hope the six-party talks will be resumed for detailed discussions based on the proposed deal," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > NORTH KOREA: NO NUCLEAR TALKS WITHOUT PEACE TREATY WITH USA.
President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned - a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies.
The extra $33 billion in 2010 would mostly go toward the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.
Military officials have suggested that the 2011 request would top $700 billion for the first time, but the precise figure has not been made public.
The administration also plans to tell Congress next month that its central military objectives for the next four years will include diddling winning the current wars while preventing new ones and that its core missions will include both counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations.
#2
This is a trap, he intends to say "See you can come up with the money I need for Obamacare if you want to".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/13/2010 12:36 Comments ||
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#3
DAILY TIMES.PK > US TO STORE MORE ARMS, AMMUNITION IN ISRAEL. Approxi US$800.0Milyuhn worth which ISRAEL WILL BE ALLOWED TO USE DURING NATIONAL EMERGENCIES [read, WAR].
#5
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > BBC VIDEO:ISLAMIST INSURGENCY IN DAGESTAN IN SOUTH RUSSIA ORIGINATED FROM PAKISTAN.
* SAME > {Stratfor] LEADING US THINK-TANK HINTS AT [Pakistan]ISI HAND IN CIA ATTACK. Analysis of explosives used by AL-BALAWI in FB CHAPMAN = CIA attack indic are "STANDARD GRADE" OF TYPE OFT USED BY PAKIS ISI AGENCY???
** HISTORY NEWS NETWORK > [Mithridatic Wars]HOW AN ANCIENT ACT OF TERROR BROUGHT DOWN A REPUBLIC [Rome]. To paraphase CICERO > 'ole MITHREY became more ACCEPTABLE/POPULAR = STRONGER AFTER HIS DEFEAT(S) BY ROMAN ARMIES THAN BY ACTUAL MIL VICTORY!
[Dawn] Director General of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha said on Tuesday that Afghan soil was being used for terrorist activities in Pakistan, adding that there could be no peace in Pakistan unless infiltration from Afghan border was stopped.
Gen Pasha's statement came against the backdrop of increased US pressure to launch a parallel operation in North Waziristan.
According to DawnNews, the ISI chief, who was briefing the parliamentary committee on national security, said the drug mafia in Afghanistan was supporting terrorists who were creating unrest in Pakistan.
According to sources, members of the committee were of the opinion that the Pak-Afghan border should be fenced and cross-border movement should be closely monitored.
The members also stressed the need for enhancing security along the border.
After the meeting, Raza Rabbani told reporters that the members condemned the measures for screening Pakistani citizens at US airports.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] A Hamas fighter was killed and three others injured in an Izbat Abed Rabbo area explosion in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun, Hamas said on Tuesday.
The announcement, noting the incident was an "internal explosion" confirmed what an Israeli security source told Ma'an late Monday night, that "as far as we can tell, it was an internal blast."
A Hamas statement identified the slain fighter as Thaer Khadir, saying he was killed "during a Jihad mission," without elaborating. One of three injured fighters suffered cardiac arrest and was attached to a life-support machine, the statement added.
Initial reports indicated that Khadir was killed by Israeli shelling, but an Israeli military spokeswoman said the country's forces were not operating in the area of the blast, which came 24 hours after three operatives from Islamic Jihad's military wing were killed in an airstrike in Gaza City.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm sure that the Palestinian OSHA will get right on this.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Tuesday that the Tel Aviv regime would never cede East Jerusalem Al-Quds to the Palestinians.
In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu denied reports that he had come to an agreement with Egypt on declaring East Jerusalem Al-Quds as the capital of a Palestinian state, The Jerusalem Post reported.
"In any peace agreement, Jerusalem will remain the united capital of Israel," the statement boasted.
"The prime minister has not changed his known view, and stands firmly on all political matters," it added.
The Tel Aviv statement followed the last week's statement of the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, which claimed that Netanyahu was ready to discuss Jerusalem Al-Quds as the capital of the Palestinian state.
Israel, widely backed by US and Britain, seized East Jerusalem Al-Quds along with the West Bank from Jordan in the Six Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in defiance of the international community.
The regime claims the holy city as its "eternal, indivisible" capital, while the Palestinian Authority want at least the implementation of the UN resolutions, which assign the control of the eastern part of the city to them. The popular Islamic Hamas movement, however, totally rejects negotiations over their rightful ownership of the Palestinian land.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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The popular Islamic Hamas movement, however, totally rejects negotiations over their rightful ownership of the Palestinian land.
well, that's it then.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/13/2010 8:16 Comments ||
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#2
Israel should quit dicking around and expel the Arabs from East Jerusalem. This would end the argument. And if the Arabs complained about it, the Israelis could tell them to STFU or they would raze the al-Asqa mosque.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV channel plans to release a series of cartoons portraying Palestinian security forces in the West Bank as boot-licking lackeys of Israel, a network official said Tuesday.
The cartoons will be modeled on a six-minute pilot in which a character wearing the uniform of Western-backed security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is portrayed as a mindless toady of bloodthirsty Israelis.
"We are preparing films and cartoons to broadcast on Al-Aqsa at the start of next month focusing on the disgraceful practices of the (Palestinian) Authority," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah movement have been bitterly divided since the Islamist group's bloody seizure of Gaza in June 2007, which confined Abbas's authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Since then the two groups have accused each other of arbitrary arrests, torture and persecution as unity talks have repeatedly collapsed.
Hamas has lashed out at Abbas's security forces for cracking down on armed groups in the West Bank, accusing them of serving Israel's interests.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Kill them all---traitors like these are worse than the Zionist enemy!!! (Mrs Skolaut I may wish to place a, rather large, order for popcorn)
Malaysia's once strong foreign exchange reserves is bordering on collapse, according to a UBS Securities Asia Limited report. It says that in 2009, Malaysia experienced the biggest foreign exchange reserve losses among Asian countries. It says official reserves fell by more than one-quarter on a valuation-adjusted basis.
Describing the situation as "bizarre", the report notes that Malaysia used to have the largest current account surplus in Asiaat around 17% of GDP.
Over the past 12 months, Malaysian reserves nearly collapsed' while neighbours like Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China have seen sizeable increases,' it says. Foreign capital outflows from Malaysia in the last year was nearly 50 percent of its GDP.
When we measure implied net flows using the same rough methodology as in used on Russia, the numbers are simply stunning. [Malaysia showed] peak outflows of nearly 50% of GDP,' it says, noting that the outflow was larger than anything witnessed in the world of emerging markets (EM).
The report also says Malaysia over the past 12 months recorded one of the biggest base money contractions in the entire EM world. It asserts that recent outflows were far, far bigger than those Malaysia experienced in the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.'
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Iranian cabinet has condemned the assassination of a nuclear scientist in Tehran and declared that the Islamic Republic is determined to arrest the culprits behind the terrorist attack.
"In line with the president's decree, intelligence and security bodies are using all their capabilities to identify and arrest those behind the crime and to reveal their foreign supporters to world public opinion," IRNA quoted the cabinet as saying in a statement issued on Tuesday, referring to a decree issued by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
An Iranian nuclear physicist was killed by a remote-controlled bomb attack in the Iranian capital on Tuesday.
Dr. Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, a lecturer at the University of Tehran and a staunch supporter of the Islamic Revolution, was killed when a booby-trapped motorbike exploded.
The professor was killed in front of his home in the Qeytariyeh neighborhood in northern Tehran.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that Iran has found traces of US and Israeli involvement in the assassination of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
various reports including this one, note that the deceased was a supporter of the anti Ahmadnijad faction
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/13/2010 8:58 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The anti-Iran terrorist group MKO has confirmed that five people arrested after last month's riots in Tehran are members of the organization.
The Mojahedin Khalq Organization has told Amnesty International that the five were detained in the Iranian capital after the Ashura day riots on December 27.
The group says they had come from their one remaining base in Iraq.
On Friday, Tehran's public prosecutor announced that five people detained in connection with the recent riots in Tehran are members of the terrorist group.
MKO members fled to Iraq after Iran's Islamic Revolution. They then carried out a series of attacks across Iran, in which a large number of civilians and officials were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement has denounced reports published by the German magazine Der Spiegel that claim that the Shia party is trafficking cocaine as 'fabrications aimed at distorting its image.'
"The party categorically denies the accusations of Der Spiegel magazine against Hezbollah," the Hezbollah media relations department said in a statement.
"Hezbollah was not surprised by Der Spiegel's cheap fabrications because for some time the... magazine has persisted in publishing lies and spreading fabricated rumors in an attempt to distort the group's delightful image," the statement read.
Hezbollah said Der Spiegel is legally and morally responsible for the slander and advised the magazine's publishers and editors that they should not allow the Zionist regime to use their publication as a tool to cover up Israel's crimes in Lebanon and Palestine.
"They should be a mirror that reflects the real image and portrays the oppression of the Lebanese and Palestinian nations as well as the horribleness of the massacres committed by the Israeli enemy," the Hezbollah statement said in conclusion.
On Saturday, Der Spiegel claimed that German investigators are probing Hezbollah's alleged cocaine smuggling in Europe and the transfer of the profits to Lebanon via Frankfurt Airport.
An article in the magazine claimed initial suspicion that Hezbollah was raising funds by smuggling cocaine was raised in May 2008 when around 8.7 million euros in cash was found in the luggage of four Lebanese men at Frankfurt Airport.
The article added that there is suspicion that Hezbollah family members have been regularly moving millions of euros raised in the European cocaine trade, via Frankfurt to Beirut.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"for some time the... magazine has persisted in publishing lies and spreading fabricated rumors in an attempt to distort the group's delightful image."
It might be more Hezbollah's behavior that has been responsible for the group's 'delightful image,' but I don't want to be rude.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The United States rejected as "absurd" an allegation by Tehran that Washington had a hand in a bomb attack that killed an Iranian nuclear scientist, a State Department spokesman said on Tuesday as mystery surrounded the death of the opposition supporter.
"Charges of U.S. involvement are absurd," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, after Iran's foreign ministry accused U.S. and Israeli "mercenaries" of being behind the bomb plot.
Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a particle physics professor at prestigious Tehran University, died when a bomb strapped to a parked motorcycle was triggered by remote control outside his home in northern Tehran, state media said.
Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted in Iranian media as seeing "signs of evilness by the triangle of the Zionist regime, America and their mercenaries in Iran in this terrorist incident."
He vowed that Iran would not be deterred from its nuclear efforts, however.
"Such terrorist acts and the physical elimination of the country's nuclear scientists will certainly not stop the scientific and technological process but will speed it up," he said.
Iran's chief prosecutor also implicated U.S. and Israeli intelligence services in the bombing that killed nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi.
Bomb attacks are rare in Iran although several security officials and members of the elite Revolutionary Guards have been killed in bombings by rebels in restive Sistan-Baluchestan province in eastern Iran.
Blaming arch foes
Iran's state-run Arabic-language TV Al-Alam identified Mohammadi as a "hezbollahi" teacher -- a term used for staunch supporters of the Iranian regime. "This assassination may have been carried out by the Hypocrites (Iran's exiled People's Mujahedeen opposition) or planned by the Zionist regime," Al-Alam said.
Iranian authorities have consistently accused arch foes the United States and Israel of seeking to foment unrest in Iran.
Hardliners have also accused the People's Mujahedeen of infiltrating anti-government protests and carrying out attacks. None of the reports said whether Mohammadi was connected to Iran's controversial nuclear program, which the West suspects is masking an atomic weapons program.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/13/2010 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.
President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned - a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies.
