In a country that remains deeply conservative and male-dominated, the government has the power to impose fines or shut down broadcasters for showing images of women deemed racy. Yet the guidelines seem to be observed largely in the breach.
Urban Afghans are now spoiled for choice with a remarkably vibrant array of TV stations. At any given moment, viewers can flip between news, cooking shows, cartoons, Turkish soap operas, Iranian dramas and hugely popular Indian films, with their gyrating sari-clad heroines.
To get around government restrictions on showing female flesh, TV stations employ full-time pixilators, charged with adding blurry blotches over bare arms, legs, necklines and midriffs. But if you watch long enough, you can easily spot a swaying elbow, a naked ankle or even an exposed strip of waist. Two words: Bay Watch
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2010 12:03 ||
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[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
something is wrong with you if you don't like some good ol ankle porn
Posted by: chris ||
03/19/2010 13:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
....there is nothing wrong with your television set...we control the vertical...we control the horizontal..
General Stanley McChrystal's plan to reconquer the key Afghan city of Kandahar this summer could fail, influential diplomats, Afghan experts and tribal elders are warning, because of deep resentment against the local face of the Afghan government - President Hamid Karzai's troublesome half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2010 08:15 ||
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[Maghrebia] The Moroccan government will not hold talks with jailed Islamists, Communications Minister and government spokesperson Khalid Naciri told Magharebia in an exclusive interview on Monday (March 15th). "What part of '20 years' didn't you understand?"
Naciri told Magharebia that the Islamists' request for a reconciliation dialogue was "not on the government's agenda".
When many Islamist detainees arrested under the Terrorism Act recently released letters and statements disavowing their terrorist ideology and affiliation, they hoped to convince Moroccan authorities to accept their calls for dialogue.
Since the 2003 Casablanca bombings, Moroccan authorities have tracked down Islamist terrorists and arrested more than 1,000. The government's latest position may represent less flexibility than was evident last May, when then-minister of the interior, Chakib Benmoussa, said that there were are certain ways in which Salafia Jihadia prisoners could get out of jail -- including by royal pardon -- if they showed remorse and changed their thinking.
The most recent overture to imprisoned Islamists came in the form of a "Fairness Initiative" proposed by jailed Moroccan cleric Mohamed Abdelouahab Rafiki, also known as Abu Hafs. The letter containing the proposal was distributed by Forum for the Dignity of Human Rights in a press conference held last week.
The forum's head, Mustafa Ramid, said in a March 15th interview with Magharebia that the "initiative reflects the importance of the national interest, which means the necessity of opening the files of hundreds of prisoners".
"[I]n our opinion, even if there are terrorists amongst them, there are also innocent people who must be identified and released," said Ramid. "In addition, the government should review the cases of people who repented."
"Terrorism is not just a criminal behaviour; it's primarily an ideology, belief and conviction that must be abolished and defeated through dialogue," added the human rights leader. "The most important party qualified for dismantling terrorist thinking ... is the circle of Islamist prisoners."
In an interview with daily newspaper Ettajdid published on March 5th, Abu Hafs said: "We are a group of innocent people who are denying all accusations, and requesting to be released. We made mistakes and we admit it."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
The Moroccan government can probably recognize taquiya when they hear it.
It's jihad or bust.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Hannibal on Thursday dismissed a Swiss regional government's compensation offer to ease a two-year diplomatic row over his arrest, in an interview with AFP.
"I am not seeking financial compensation and it will not do me justice," said Hannibal Kadhafi, who lashed out at Switzerland and its foreign minister, calling for her to be thrown into Lake Geneva.
"International arbitration is our just demand and there is no doubt that it?s coming," he said.
Hannibal and his pregnant wife were briefly arrested in July 2008 on suspicion of mistreating two of their domestic staff at a Geneva hotel.
Swiss public television channel SFTV on Tuesday showed court documents in which the Geneva government accepted responsibility for the leak to a newspaper of Hannibal's police mugshots. Poor baby was embarrassed by leaked mugshot. For beating up the help? Not so much.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2010 09:18 ||
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#1
Suggestion: have the Swiss break relations with Libya. Make sure all their citizens get out of Libya safely and then pull the plug. Do everything possible to sequester Libyan assets in Switzerland, most especially those assets owned or controlled by Hannibal.
That would send a message.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/19/2010 10:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
It's too late, Steve, Libya has already taken hostages in this matter.
The arrests of top Taliban figures in Pakistan abruptly halted secret U.N. contacts with the insurgency at a time when the efforts were gathering momentum, the U.N.'s former envoy to Afghanistan said Friday.
Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat who just stepped down from the U.N. post here in the Afghan capital, said the discussions that he and others from the U.N. had with senior Taliban members began in the spring of 2009 and included face-to-face conversations in Dubai and elsewhere.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2010 07:10 ||
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[Dawn] Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan has warned that the Pakistani army's offensive in the tribal areas is pushing the country to the brink of "civil war", in comments published in a newspaper. Oh, noze! Not civil war!... Ummm... What do you call what's been going on for the past ten years?
He also blamed US-Pakistan military attacks in the areas bordering Afghanistan for creating the Pakistan Taliban, in the comments in London's Evening Standard paper on Wednesday.
"It's civil war in the making," said the opposition politician, referring to the decision to send the army into the tribal areas in Pakistan's northwest.
"They were like a bull in a china shop, fighting one or two guerrillas with aerial bombing of villages.
"That turned people against the army and a new phenomenon was created: the Pakistan Taliban."
For Khan, who leads a marginal force in Pakistani politics Tehrik-i-Insaf (Movement for Justice), the way to deal with militants is through boosting state help for the poor.
"You will have no problem with extremists in Pakistan if you have democracy with a welfare state," he told an audience in London, according to the paper.
And the legendary cricketer said he still rejected the notion of a conventional "political career" as he would be forced to compromise.
"If someone offered me a political career, I would shoot myself," he said.
"Having to get votes through making compromises, no thank you."
"The classic example in England is Tony Blair. How did the people go wrong with him lying all the way?
"He sold the idea that there were weapons of mass destruction."
Khan is a hero in Pakistan for leading the country to victory in the 1992 cricket World Cup.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11127 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
What do you call what's been going on for the past ten years?
A feud? Disagreement? Misunderstanding?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/19/2010 20:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"training gone awry"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2010 20:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
ION MEMR > UZBEKISTAN GROUP VOWS TO "FREE PAKISTAN FROM US CONTROL",
and
IIRC DAILY TIMES > QURESHI: US COMMITMENT TO REGION/REGIONAL STABILITY IS CRITICAL.
* NEWS KERALA > US: HEADLEY CONFESSION SHOWS LeT'S GLOBAL AMBITIONS; + ROW IN INDIA AS HEADLEY ESCAPES DEATH, EXTRADITION [severe punishment sentence for MUMBAI = 26/11].
* Also from MEMRI > ANWAR AL-AWLAKI TO AMERICAN MUSLIMS: JIHAD IS ENCUMBENT ON EVERY ABLE MUSLIM {support Jihad inside CONUS].
[Al Arabiya Latest] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki held on to his slim overall lead in the nationwide vote tally over his main challenger Iyad Allawi, updated results from Iraq's general election showed on Thursday.
Maliki's State of Law Alliance led Allawi's Iraqiya bloc by 39,905 votes, according to new figures released by Iraq's election commission and based on 89 percent of ballots counted.
That figure includes 70 percent of special voting, conducted three days before the election, for the security forces, hospital patients and staff, and prisoners.
Iraq's system of proportional representation makes it unlikely that any single group will clinch the 163 seats that would enable it to form a government on its own, and protracted coalition building is likely.
Overall, State of Law garnered 2,448,452 votes compared to Iraqiya's 2,408,547. The Iraqi National Alliance, a coalition led by Shiite religious groups, was third nationwide with 1,859,606.
The nationwide vote count is an indication of the tight race between the two, but it was not immediately clear how their tallies would affect the number of seats they win in parliament.
Both State of Law and Iraqiya have said they have begun talks with rival blocs to form a government, with analysts warning that political groupings could still maneuver to form a coalition without one of the two lists.
Complete election results were expected in the coming days. Final results -- after all complaints have been investigated and ruled upon -- are likely by the end of the month.
On Wednesday, an ally of Maliki charged that the count, which has so far taken 10 days, had been plagued by widespread fraud and demanded a nationwide recount.
"There has been clear manipulation inside the election commission in the interests of a certain or a specific list," said Ali al-Adeeb, a State of Law candidate in the predominantly Shiite central province of Karbala.
"State of Law demands the counting process be repeated to be sure that there has been no manipulation."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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The Quartet for the Middle East urged Israel Friday to stop building settlements and set a bold target for a final deal with the Palestinians by 2012 as it tried to kickstart the stalled peace process. That's 'urge', not 'tell' ...
"The Quartet urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activity," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said after the meeting of the Quartet of the United States, the United Nations, European Union and Russia. He said at the meeting hosted by Russia that Israel should also halt natural settlement growth, dismantle outposts erected since March 2001 and refrain from demolitions and evictions in east Jerusalem.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2010 08:29 ||
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The family back-and-forth came as King Abdullah of Jordan added to pressure on Israel over its settlements policy, demanding the international community take firm action over what he called the "red line" of Jerusalem.
Hagai Ben-Artzi, the brother of the Israeli premier's wife, said on Israeli Army Radio that the US president dislikes Netanyahu and the Israeli people because he had spent years in the church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who he said is "antisemitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish." Obama once declared the fiery liberal Chicago preacher was his spiritual mentor but disavowed him during the campaign.
"As a politician running for [the] presidency he had to hide it," Ben-Artzi said, "but it comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly: there is an antisemitic president in America."
Ben-Artzi then reiterated that "Jerusalem is the Israeli people's capital and the capital of the state of Israel, and it is whole and united."
"Once the Americans tried to intervene in anything related to Jerusalem we told them one simple word: 'No'," he said.
Netanyahu distanced himself from the remarks, with a spokesman saying it was not the first time the two had disagreed.
"I have a deep appreciation for President Obama's commitment to Israel's security, which he has expressed many times," Netanyahu said.
In an interview, Obama said the construction plans were not helpful for the Middle East peace process but downplayed suggestion of a rift.
"Israel's one of our closest allies, and we and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away," he said on Fox News. "But friends are going to disagree sometimes."
Meanwhile, Abdullah, a close ally of the US and Britain, demanded "firm, swift, direct and effective action to stop Israel's provocative measures in Jerusalem that seek to change its identity and threaten holy sites".
"Jerusalem is a red line and the world should not be silent about Israel's attempts to get rid of Jerusalem's Arab residents, Muslims or Christians," the king told Lady Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, according to a palace statement.
Ashton is visiting Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip today before flying to Moscow to join a meeting of the Middle East Quartet: Hillary Clinton for the US, the UN's Ban Ki-Moon, Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and Tony Blair, the Quartet's special representative.
#8
but Jimmy Carter sez Obama's Admin is... too pro-Israel
YJCMTSU
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/19/2010 8:19 Comments ||
Top||
#9
In case of USA it's more usual to give money to people who hate you. However, give MM some time and Israel will qualify.
Well, those of us who aren't anti-semites are kinda damned if we do and damned if we don't. If we violently overthrew the antisemites within a couple weeks a pretty large chunk of them would be in apartment blocks across the street from you with brand-new Israeli citizenship telling you what bloody nazis we are.
#12
In Israel, Rahm wouldn't get a job as a supermarket delivery boy. Thing, you people should learn to take responsibility for your own actions. Obama isn't the disease he's a symptom. The disease is self-indulgence that all of you went along with---until it started hurting. Blaming the Jews---the most productive part of your society, shows that you're not even in a right direction for the cure.
#13
Thing, you people should learn to take responsibility for your own actions. g(r)om
"You people"...? Oh fir phuechs sake g(r)om. I think I'm going to call Antwerp tomorrow morning and cancel my most recent Afri blood diamond order over that one.
#14
I give up Besoeker. You've caught us dead to rights. It's the the Elders of Zion who shipped American industry to China---replacing it with the trade in derivatives & the housing bubble.
#15
There's enough self-destructiveness going around, that if those of us who have been trying to fight it _stopped_, it would be enough to destroy the United States several times over, and Israel a hundred times over.
And perhaps the biggest batch of self-destructiveness I've seen yet is the whole "I don't care that the rest of the world gets wrecked, it's not going to affect me in my little enclave" stuff I'm seeing now.
Hamas has expressed concern over an Israeli conspiracy to empty Jerusalem al-Quds of its Palestinian residents after the inauguration of a synagogue in the Old City near the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Hamas deputy chief Moussa Abu Marzuk told Press TV that the Tel Aviv regime is determined to replace Palestinian mosques and churches with Jewish sites in East Jerusalem al-Quds.
He said Israeli police deployed thousands of forces to the city in a bid to force Palestinians into leaving it.
His remarks came amid international concerns over the regime's moves which threaten Christian and Muslim sites.
The US State Department's annual report on human rights denounced Israel for only protecting Jewish sites in Jerusalem al-Quds, saying Christian and Muslim houses of worship are neglected, inaccessible, or threatened by property development.
Israel reopened the Hurva synagogue which was destroyed during the 1948 Middle East war, on Monday.
The incident has been the latest to provoke tension between Israeli forces and Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Israel, which seized East Jerusalem al-Quds and the Holy City area in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it afterwards, claims the city is its eternal and indivisible capital.
The claim, however, has not been recognized by the international community.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned a retaliatory rocket attack from Gaza Strip which killed an Israeli civilian, stressing that all acts of violence are "totally unacceptable."
"All such acts of terror and violence against civilians are totally unacceptable and contrary to international law," Ban's spokesperson said on Thursday in a statement issued in Moscow, where the UN chief will be meeting with other members of the Middle East Quartet tomorrow.
A 30-year-old Thai foreign worker was killed Thursday after a Qassam rocket hit a greenhouse in Netiv Ha'asara in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, north of the Gaza Strip.
The 19 March meeting brings together the UN, the European Union, the United States and Russia. Last week, the Quartet called for the urgent resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians to resolve all outstanding issues of the conflict.
Ban hopes the meeting will kick-start Middle East peace negotiations, which stalled following the devastating 22-day military offensive Israel launched in December 2008 on the Gaza Strip.
The meeting comes amid new tensions between the Palestinians and the Israelis which started when Israel announced a new plan to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in a West Bank area it has annexed to East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also denounced the rocket attack from Gaza on Israel.
"I condemn any kind of violence, we need to move forward to get the peace process moving toward a successful resolution," Ashton told reporters in Gaza.
The rocket exploded inside the greenhouse, causing it and adjacent greenhouses severe damage. Combat engineers spent a considerable amount of time dismantling and collecting the rocket's remains.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade -- the armed wing of the Fatah movement -- claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11126 views]
Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs
A former Iranian vice president and prominent reform activist convicted of spreading propaganda against the ruling clerical establishment has begun a one-year prison sentence, a close relative said Friday.
An appeals court upheld Hossein Marashi's conviction and sentence on Wednesday, one of many court rulings against activists and opposition figures rounded up in the turmoil triggered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June.
At the center of his case is an interview Marashi gave to a news Web site last year encouraging people to gather in front of Tehran's Evin prison to protest the detention of political activists.
Marashi, 51, is a relative of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a vehement critic of Ahmadinejad who leads the influential Assembly of Experts, the only group with the authority to dismiss Iran's supreme leader.
Marashi is a spokesman of the liberal Kargozaran political party and supported Mousavi in June's election. Wednesday's court ruling included a lifelong ban on political activity for Marashi, according to the official news agency, IRNA.
Posted by: ed ||
03/19/2010 08:10 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The deputy leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah has warned that any country that launches a military attack against Iran will pay a "heavy price."
"Israel or the United States cannot just bomb Iran and (expect) things to continue normally," Sheikh Naim Qassem told Reuters on Thursday.
"Any attack on Iran could ignite the whole region and the assailant will pay a heavy price whether it is Israel or the United States," he added.
He warned that any countries which allow the US to use its territory for an attack on Iran would also face reprisals.
Israel has repeatedly declared its determination to halt Iran's uranium enrichment program, even through military means.
Israel, which is believed to possess nuclear arms, accuses Iran of pursuing a military nuclear program. Iran, a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has repeatedly declared that its nuclear program is aimed at peaceful purposes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11133 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
do htese ppl seem like the school yard bully who eventually gets his ass kicked too anyone else
Posted by: chris ||
03/19/2010 13:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Since Hussein Melon Head deny bunker busters to Israel, next best thing, actually a FAR better thing, is these thermobaric bombs!
And Israel is perfectly capable of making as many as necessary.
The additional effect is to create a deadly pressure wave in any underlying cavity.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran offered on Wednesday a one-shot nuclear fuel exchange on its own soil, edging closer to the conditions of a plan drawn up by the U.N. atomic watchdog last year as major powers mulled a new round of sanctions.
Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi revealed the new offer in an interview with daily Jawan, signaling a major change in Tehran's longstanding position on the nuclear fuel plan first drafted last October.
Salehi said Iran is ready to deliver 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium (LEU) in one go in return for fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor, but the exchange must be inside the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iran is ready to deliver 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium rocks.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday that peace in the Middle East was "impossible" because of the actions of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ain't that a coincidence? Peace in the Muddle East was "impossible" because of the actions of Olmert. And it was "impossible" because of Sharon. And there was no way they could make peace with Ehud Barak. And before Ehud was Netanyahu again, so peace was impossible then. In fact peace has been impossible for anyone, to include Shimon Peres, who's a wimp.
"The establishment of peace in the Middle East is impossible because of the absence of an Israeli partner," Assad told reporters after talks with visiting Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
Israel's pursuit of settlement construction and its occupation of Arab territory conquered in 1967 were the "real obstacle" to peace and pushed the region toward "more wars and tension," Assad said.
He said Syria "seriously wants to establish a just and comprehensive peace... through Turkish-sponsored indirect negotiations" with Israel but cannot engage in such talks because of the current climate.
Netanyahu's government "cannot be considered a partner as long as it responds to calls for peace with settlements and the Judaization of (Muslim) holy sites" in the occupied West Bank including east Jerusalem, Assad said.
He urged Italy and the European Union to put pressure on Israel.
Turkish-brokered indirect talks between Israel and Syria were launched in May 2008 but they were suspended when Israel launched its destructive offensive against the Gaza Strip that December.
Israel has angered the international community by announcing plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed Arab east Jerusalem and to include two contested West Bank shrines as part of its national heritage.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11130 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
In his foggy mind, Barry Soetoro probably plan to force
Noam Chomsky or his like as a premier in a "Regime Change" for Israel.
Then Noam will call on his Khmer Rouge buddies
in the Cambodian Jungle to set up
"settlement camps", "reservations" whose existence will
be denied by everyone in the Middle East,
by all paleo-cons and by all socialists.
The Jews will be deemed to have all perished of
some plague or other, like the American Indians...
[Al Arabiya Latest] A heartbroken Saudi student has been arrested in south Lebanon along the border with Israel where he was seeking an "honorable death," Lebanese security officials said on Thursday.
Lebanese security forces nabbed Mohammed Jawad al-Fahad al-Issa, 26, at the border town of Kfar Kila as he apparently tried to draw the attention of nearby Israeli troops, said one official, on condition of anonymity. "Hey! Yo! Over here!"
"Moshe! Did you hear something?"
"Yeah. Sounded like a dolt."
"Hmmm... Yer right. Definitely a dolt."
"He told police that he thought if he cursed and insulted the Israelis, they would open fire and kill him, and that way he would at least die an honorable death," the official told AFP. "He did this for sentimental reasons." "I l-o-o-o-o-ve yew for seventy mental reasons!"
Another security official said that Issa, a student at a technical university in Jordan, told police his Jordanian girlfriend had left him for another man and moved to the Palestinian territories. "Moe, I'm leaving you!"
"But Fatimah! Why?"
"Because you're a dolt."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
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[11123 views]
Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Honorable death = cigarette, blindfold, and firing squad? Skip the cigarette, they are bad for you.
No! Reeeaaally? [Al Arabiya Latest] Russia said on Thursday it would start up the reactor it is building at Iran's first atomic power plant in mid-2010, prompting immediate criticism from visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the startup, but Clinton said such a decision would be "premature" without Iranian assurances on its nuclear program, which the West fears is aimed at producing atomic weapons.
Russia agreed to build the 1,000 megawatt reactor at Bushehr, on the Persian Gulf, 15 years ago, but delays have haunted the $1 billion project and diplomats say Moscow has used it as a lever in relations with Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
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[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > AQ KHAN OFFERED TO BUILD NUCLEAR BOMB FOR SADDAM, widin 3-Year time period.
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.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The deputy leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah has warned that any country that launches a military attack against Iran will pay a "heavy price." 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday that peace in the Middle East was "impossible" because of the actions of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A heartbroken Saudi student has been arrested in south Lebanon along the border with Israel where he was seeking an "honorable death," Lebanese security officials said on Thursday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Russia said on Thursday it would start up the reactor it is building at Iran's first atomic power plant in mid-2010, prompting immediate criticism from visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
