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ETA brass hat arrested in Caracas
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday

ATTENTION: There are now pictures behind the pictures, rules below apply. Pictures of merit may also be attached to supplemental links.


Caution –Before opening links in this section or passing through the checkout line at the Supermarket, please have your children avert their eyes.

If the sight of scantily clad women accenting their God given and/or surgically enhanced assets offends you, proceed to the next section.

If you choose to review Rantburg on company time, it is suggested you have your resume up to date.


Gone to the Big Gam Locker in the Sky

Lilia Prado, Mexican actress

Ramsay Ames, B movie actress and WWII pinup

Anna Nilsson, Silent Film Star, in 1907, she was named "Most beautiful woman in America"



Living Gams


Dana Gillespie aka Mary Magdalene in "Jesus Christ Superstar" (Original london production) (61)


Daily Gam Shot



Juliet Landau aka Drusilla on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (45)



Celine Dion, a Canadian singer, occasional songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur (42)





Donna D'Errico, Playmate of the Month for September 1995 (42)




Mili Avital aka Sha'uri, the daughter of Kasuf in "Stargate" (38)





Jessica Cauffiel aka Margot in "Legally Blonde movies" (34)




Norah Jones, singer-songwriter, daughter of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar (31)




Sara Foster aka Jen Clark on "90210" (28)

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/30/2010 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks GB, some were going into withdrawal when you missed a day.
Posted by: tipover || 03/30/2010 0:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Another who just departed is June Havoc, baby sister of Gypsy Rose Lee.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/30/2010 7:27 Comments || Top||

#4  tipover:

There must have been a labor slowdown at RDS&TP Sunday. I did post on the late edition, but only after my round of Flog and a wine nap. Check it out.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/30/2010 11:47 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Why we will NEVER leave Afghanistan.



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/30/2010 14:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As I've long suggested, the way out of Afghanistan is by retraining an entire generation from childhood to be competent leaders. This should have been done immediately after the invasion with all orphans and the children of the upper classes. Mandatory, high discipline western education in boarding schools.

Then create a public education system in the stable areas, also based on a boarding school and western educational model. Make it abundantly clear that it is the main path to success in the country. If the area is unstable, transport the children to a secure area.

By taking their children away for education, unemployment is reduced, because the children are not working the fields.

Many unemployed men are put to work in an American run works program, with no government involvement. This is feasible because their average wage is tiny.

All of this is done parallel to the war itself, which would be done much like it is currently doing. The big difference would be that eventually there would be change, and change by Afghans, to get their country back on track.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/30/2010 19:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Because Obama likes US servicemen dying to no purpose?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/30/2010 19:12 Comments || Top||

#3  high discipline western education

These days that's an oxymoron.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/30/2010 19:35 Comments || Top||

#4  We can't even educate our kids here with taxpayer money. No way in hell we could afford to educate another nations also. And they sure as hell can't afford it.
Posted by: Mike N. || 03/30/2010 21:31 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect there are 2 Afghan National Armies. One manned by ex-Northern Alliance fighters, who get the better recruits, the ones who know who they are going to be fighting for (Hint: not the Karzai government). And the other where the losers and pushtuns get dumped.
Posted by: phil_b || 03/30/2010 22:11 Comments || Top||

#6  public education here is a jobs program to hire teachers and administrators. it is an combination indoctrination campus and tax subsidized daycare. please do not compaure the us 'education' model with anything that may actually teach someone skills or useful knowledge. parents are the only ones that teach much of anything in today school.
Posted by: abu do you love || 03/30/2010 22:22 Comments || Top||


Chopper crash injures 13 US-led, Afghan troops
At least 13 US-led forces and Afghan soldiers have been injured in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, according to officials. Press TV's correspondent in Afghanistan reported on Monday that the crash occurred in Zabul province.

Nine international soldiers and four Afghan troops were among the injured, said deputy police chief Jilani Farah. NATO also confirmed the incident, but failed to mention the cause of the accident.

Taliban spokesman Yousef Ahmadi claimed that the militant group targeted the helicopter and all those onboard were killed.

Last week, another NATO military helicopter carrying Turkish soldiers crashed on the outskirts of Wardak City. One soldier was killed and three others were injured.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Merchant vessel hijacked in Somalia
[Iran Press TV Latest] A Panamanian-flagged merchant vessel and its 24 multinational crew members have been hijacked off Somalia's Gulf of Aden.

In a statement, NATO's counter piracy operation, Ocean Shield, said that the 4,500-tonne Iceberg 1, owned by Iceberg International Ltd, was sailing towards the Somali coast on Monday when pirates hijacked it.

"They took hostage 24 crew and are now sailing the vessel towards the Somali coast," it added, after receiving a report from the ship's owners.

The crew members were from Ghana, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sudan and Yemen, said a spokesman for the European Union's Navfor naval force operating in the area.

The ship was carrying "general mechanical equipment" and it was heading for the UAE, Navfor said.

Somali pirates continue to pose threats for the region's shipping by hijacking vessels and releasing them only after receiving huge ransoms.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  TOPIX > SOMALIA: MALTESE-FLAGGED VESSEL SUCCESSFULLY EVADES PIRATE ATTACK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/30/2010 2:39 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects
Posted by: Airandee || 03/30/2010 18:36 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ABC gets it wrong again. It should be Defected. The Times should be apoplectic they could not be the ones to breech the secret. No doubt they'll have the address for us in tomorrow's edition.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/30/2010 21:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably thought "I don't want a bunker buster exploding where I am." Maybe more will come to their senses and figure that working in the cause of the mad mullahs is a lost cause.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/30/2010 21:54 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
15 militant outfits active
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 foreign militant organisations were active or are still operating in Bangladesh since 1991 using the country as a safe shelter or transit to infiltrate neighbouring countries.

The organisations are Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami-Kashmiri (TJI), Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehadul Islami, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), Hezbe Islami, Jamiatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Ansar, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), Myanmar-based militant groups Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and National United Party of Arakan (NUPA).

This was revealed from the statements of several detained foreign and local militants and insiders of different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies dealing with militancy.

Operatives of different foreign militant groups started visiting Bangladesh and spreading their tentacles with the help of banned local militant group Huji after the end of the Afghan war against Russian forces.

The militant organisations operated almost undisturbed from 1991 to 1998 and then between 2001 and 2005 under the nose of the local administration. "During the BNP-Jamaat rule activities of the foreign militants marked a serious rise under the nose of the administration. Some of them were held and later given a safe passage," says a law enforcer requesting anonymity.

Operatives of several groups used to visit Bangladesh from Pakistan and then India to commit their activities, while many from India also sneaked into Bangladesh and then visited Pakistan with fake Bangladeshi passports to
The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say.
have training on arms and explosives. Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Hassan Mahmood Khandkar said, "Now Bangladesh is no more a comfortable place for local or foreign militants as we constantly remain vigilant and go after militants upon instructions of the government."

The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say.

Now some militant groups are generating funds for them by selling counterfeit Indian currencies in India. The counterfeit currencies, especially Indian rupees and US dollars, are mainly forged in Pakistan and carried to Bangladesh via Dubai.

Then a strong syndicate of militants and criminals supply the fake currencies to India. "We've detected at least three such gangs having around 50 members. One of the gangs is led by Bangladeshi citizen Majumder, one by Pakistani citizen Sarfaraz and the other by another Pakistani named Mohammad Danish," says a top police official asking not to be identified. Recently, an international money transfer has been detected through which some fund came from Pakistan to detained Pakistani national Rezwan.

Law enforcers could not give a clear idea about how many foreign militant groups are active in Bangladesh. But recent arrests of over a dozen foreign militants belonging to LeT, JeM, HuM and ARCF suggest they are still active here, they say.

One of the Huji founders, Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who is behind bars in connection with the August 21 carnage case, named during interrogation nine Pakistan-based militant organisations which mainly work in Kashmir but also had operated in Bangladesh.

The names of ARCF and LeT surfaced after the arrest of its leaders Indian citizens Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Monsur Ali in May last year. The ARCF used to work for LeT.

The recent arrest of Pakistani national Rezwan Ahmed who admitted at a press briefing of coordinating JeM activities in Bangladesh suggests the outfit is still active here.

The name of another Pakistan-based militant outfit Tehrik-ul Mujahideen came to notice from the confessional statement of executed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman. Rahman had visited Pakistan more than once and met Tehrik-ul Mujahideen leader Jamilur Rahman, who gave JMB 60,000 rupees and another Rs 1 lakh to Tahrikul-ul-Mujahideen's Bangladesh chapter leader Abdur Razzak of Natore.

Salam also said Harkatul Mujahideen top leader and Pakistani nation Moulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil had also visited Bangladesh. Sources say Khalil made the visit in 1997 and met local militants at an NGO office in Mohammadpur in the capital.

Sources in the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies say they have information about activities of RSO, ARNO and NUPA in the hill areas of Bandarban and Cox's Bazar.

Moulana Salam also substantiated the claim as he in his statement said those groups still have some training camps in Naikhangchhari in Bandarban.

Activities of HuM were detected a few months ago when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) learned one year after the arrest of Abdul Majid alias Abu Yusuf Butt that he is from India-administered Kashmir. Moulana Salam said Moulana Tajuddin told him that Majid brought a consignment of grenades used in the August 21, 2004 attack from Chittagong.

Analyses of interrogation statements of Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Monsur Ali, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, Moulana Abdus Salam and Anisul Mursalin, now detained in India, Indian militants Faisal Nayeem alias Khurram alias Abdullah, Amir Raza, Mufti Obaidullah, Monsur Ali, Golam Yazdani alias Yahia, Mozammel and several others suggest that they had close relation with detained Huji linchpins Mufti Abdul Hannan, Abu Sayeed alias Dr Zafar and Moulana Abdur Rouf. Rouf, who was initially involved with Huji but later formed another militant group Tanjim-e Tamiruddin, visited an LeT safe shelter cum training camp in Habiganj in 2002. Khurram and Amir Raza had often visited Bangladesh but left the country in 2006.
This article starring:
ABDUL MAJID ALIAS ABU YUSUF BUTTHarkatul Mujahideen
ABDUR RAZZAK OF NATORETehrik-ul Mujahideen
ABU SAIID ALIAS DR ZAFARHuji
Anisul Mursalin
JAMILUR RAHMANTehrik-ul Mujahideen
MAJUMDERISI
MOHAMAD DANISHISI
Moulana Abdus Salam
Moulana Monsur Ali
MUFTI ABDUL HANNANHuji
MUFTI OBAIDULLAHARCF
MUFTI OBAIDULLAHLashkar-e-Taiba
MULANA ABDUR RUFHuji
MULANA ABDUR RUFTanjim-e Tamiruddin
MULANA FAZLUR RAHMAN KHALILHarkatul Mujahideen
MULANA MONSUR ALILashkar-e-Taiba
MULANA SHEIKH ABDUS SALAMHuji
PAKISTANI CITIZEN SARFARAZISI
PAKISTANI NATIONAL REZWANISI
REZWAN AHMEDJamiatul Mujahideen
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  All roads lead to Pakistan and the ISI!
Posted by: Paul2 || 03/30/2010 12:16 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
ETA leader arrested in Caracas international airport
Officers with the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (Sebin) arrested on Sunday an ETA leader at the Maiquetia International Airport, as he intended to enter Venezuela from Mexico. Marino Alvarado, coordinator of the Venezuelan Program on Education-Action in Human Rights (Provide), stated that the detainee's name is Walter Wendelin and is considered the representative of Batasuna, the political arm of the Basque terrorist organization ETA, for South America.
Just for show or are they serious? Let's see if they let Spain extradite him.
Wendelin, of German origin, is in the headquarters of the Sebin in Caracas.

In December last year, in a press release, the Ministry of Information and Communication (Minci) reported that Walter Wendelin took part in an international forum on "Imperialist threats and people's resistance, moving forward towards the construction of an anti-empire front," at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, downtown Caracas.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...and the empire strikes back.
Posted by: gromky || 03/30/2010 16:57 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL!
Take'm down. Him have same cell with Lina
Posted by: Shipman || 03/30/2010 17:25 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Hunt for 'Black Widow' terror gang
Police in Moscow were tonight searching for female accomplices of two women suicide bombers who killed at least 37 people and injured 65 by targeting two packed tube trains during the busy rush hour.

Analysis of CCTV footage inside the Red Arrow underground trains of the two suicide bombers has revealed they were accompanied by two other women.

Their faces were not destroyed in the explosion, increasing the chance of successfully identifying them, and video from other cameras in Moscow Metro stations has also helped identify the faces of the two women who accompanied them and a man.

President Dmitry Medvedev declared Russia would act 'without compromise' to root out terrorists as he ordered airports to be put on alert and security to be stepped up throughout the country.

The two bombs are the worst attack on the Russian capital for six years and no group has yet claimed responsibility.

But suspicion has fallen on Muslim militants from the North Caucasus, where the Kremlin is fighting a growing Islamist insurgency spreading from Chechnya to neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia's Federal Security Service, said the terrorists were likely to have been 'black widows', Muslim women radicalised by the situation in the North Caucasus.

'Body parts belonging to two female suicide bombers were found and, according to initial data, these persons are linked to the north Caucasus,' he said.

Analysts said the involvement of women was similar to the 'black widows' in Checnya - women who had lost brothers or husbands to Russian forces in the Chechen conflict.

News reports have linked the women, also known as Shahidka, to embattled northern Caucuses and the Shahidka movement that first emerged in 2000.

The term is a feminine derivative of shahid, Arabic for 'witness' or 'martyr'.

They are generally young, often teenagers, and are dressed from head to toe in black mourning clothes.

Police are tonight expected to publish CCTV images of the suicide bombers, along with two women of 'Slav appearance' who accompanied them.

Witnesses spoke of panic at the two underground stations this morning after the blasts as people fell over each other in dense smoke and dust, trying to escape.

In scenes that will have been chillingly familiar to Londoners after the July 7 bombings in 2005, bloodied and injured passengers emerged onto the streets looking bewildered.

The first explosion tore through the second carriage of a metro train just before 8am as it stood at the Lubyanka station, close to the headquarters of Russia's main domestic security service FSB. It killed at least 23 people.

About 40 minutes later, another blast in the second carriage of a train waiting at the Park Kultury metro station, opposite Gorky Park, killed 12 to 14 more people.

Both bombers wore explosive belts packed with bolts and iron rods to maximise casualties.

'It was very scary. I saw a dead body,' said Valentin Popov, a 19-year-old student travelling on a train to the Park Kultury station.

'Everyone was screaming. There was a stampede at the doors. I saw one woman holding a child and pleading with people to let her through, but it was impossible.'

A commuter said: 'I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body.'

The female suicide bombers are believed to have boarded the train at Yugo-Zapadnaya station in southwest Moscow.

One passenger told the RIA news agency: 'I was in the middle of the train when somewhere in the first or second carriage there was a loud blast. I felt the vibrations reverberate through my body.

'People were yelling like hell. There was a lot of smoke and in about two minutes everything was covered in smoke.'

Another called Alexei added: 'I was moving up on the escalator when I heard a loud bang, a blast. A door near the passage way arched, was ripped out and a cloud of dust came down on the escalator.

'People started running, panicking, falling on each other,' he said.

Some of the injured were airlifted to emergency hospitals in helicopters. Dozens of commuters were helped from each station to waiting ambulances.

Surveillance camera footage posted on the internet showed several motionless bodies lying on the floor or slumped against the wall in Lubyanka station lobby and emergency workers crouched over victims, trying to treat them.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov told reporters that female suicide bombers had carried out the attacks.

Prosecutors said they had opened a 'terrorism investigation' after forensic experts found the remains of a female bomber.

The Russian rouble fell to 34.25 from 34.13 against the central bank's euro-dollar basket, on concern the blasts could indicate the start of a bombing campaign against Russian cities.

Russian equity markets were little changed, with the rouble denominated MICEX index up 0.04 percent.

Medvedev ordered officials to fight terrorism 'without hesitation, to the end'.

In a nod to accusations of Russian troops acting with brutality against civilians in Chechnya, he said human rights must be respected during police operations.

The President will make a statement to the nation later today, according to a Kremlin source.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cut short a visit to Siberia and vowed that everything would be done to catch the killers.

He said: 'A crime that is terrible in its consequences and heinous in its manner has been committed.

'I am confident that law enforcement bodies will spare no effort to track down and punish the criminals. Terrorists will be destroyed.'

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the bombings as did European Union leaders.

'The American people stand united with the people of Russia in opposition to violent extremism and heinous terrorist attacks that demonstrate such disregard for human life, and we condemn these outrageous acts,' Obama said.

Gordon Brown was 'appalled' by the attacks and has sent a message of 'condolence and support' to Medvedev, Downing Street said.

The current death toll makes it the worst attack on Moscow since February 2004, when a suicide bombing killed at least 39 people and wounded more than 100 on a metro train.

Chechen separatists were blamed for that attack and suspicions are likely to focus on the North Caucasus where rebel leader Doku Umarov, who is fighting for an Islamic emirate embracing the whole region, vowed on Feb 15 to take the war to Russian cities.

'Blood will no longer be limited to our (Caucasus) cities and towns. The war is coming to their cities,' the Chechen rebel leader said in an interview on the unofficial Islamist website.

The Chechen rebellion began in the 1990s as a largely ethnic nationalist movement, fired by a sense of injustice over the transportation of Chechens to Central Asia, with enormous loss of life, by dictator Josef Stalin.

In recent years, Russian officials say Islamic militants from outside Russia have joined the campaign lending it a new intensity.

Russian leaders had declared victory in their battle with Chechen separatists who fought two wars with Moscow.

But while violence subsided in Chechnya, it has spread and intensified in neighbouring Dagestan and Ingushetia, where clan rivalries overlap with criminal gangs and Islamist militants.

Vladimir Putin cemented his power in 1999 in launching an ultimately successful war to overthrow a separatist government lodged in the Chechen capital Grozny.

Russian leaders fear the loss of this region endangering energy transit routes could destabilise other areas in a country spanning 11 time zones.

The Moscow subway system is one of the world's busiest, carrying around seven million passengers on an average workday, and is a key element in running the sprawling and traffic-choked city.

The blasts practically paralysed movement on the city centre's main roads, as emergency vehicles sped to the stations.

Helicopters hovered overhead the Park Kultury station area, which is next to the city's renowned Gorky Park.

Passengers, many of them in tears, streamed out of the station, one man exclaiming over and over: 'This is how we live!'

Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

#1  something tells me that there won't be a lot of agonizing over reading of rights or worrying about waterboarding or whatever is done to find out what is is really going on and to root out Mr. Big.

Obumble might want to take notes. or something.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/30/2010 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  There faces were intact, yet one carried an est. 4 kilos and the other an est. 2 kilos of TNT and detinated it in an enclosed rail car. They were identified as "north caucasian" before any official investigation/autopsy was undertaken. Something seems too easy here. Is it possible for your face to remain intact after detinating 2+ kilos of TNT under your chin(on a vest presumably)?
Posted by: jefe101 || 03/30/2010 2:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Obumble might want to take notes.

Offer those captured a choice:

A definite 100 waterboarding sessions at the hands of the CIA, or 1 session at the tender mercies of whatever spetznaz happens to come their or their families' way.
Posted by: gorb || 03/30/2010 2:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Check yourself before you wish for the Russians to go Roman. Best to not stick our big toe in a conflict that is 200 years old. Did anyone cry when the chechen nation was relocated to the Stan's during WWII? Did anyone cry when Grozny was obliterated? Well as I recall the Western world didn't have much to say. The Chechen's apparently don't bow down as easily as say the Iroquois, Sioux or the Apache. So what I am wondering is is this a civil war waged by a people with apparent little chance of victory (like the Vietnamese) against a mighty enemy, or are these just random nutjobs holed up in hideouts killing Russians for Allah. It seems to me they have a reason to be pissed. It would be a mistake to blur the WOT and just include "the bad guy of the week", we would then lose focus.
Posted by: jefe101 || 03/30/2010 2:53 Comments || Top||

#5  If these douchebags believe in Allah, and all the stuff that goes with it, then they are the bad guys, end of story.
Posted by: Dave UK || 03/30/2010 4:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Whether or not they believe in Allah, which they do, you need to check yo history my friend. If your people had been in a constant state of conflict, that is your great great grandfather, your great grandfather, your grandfather, your father, you (you died in the 90's), your son and your grandson (that only covers 6 generations, so add 4 more "greats" if you want). If your grandmother told you stories of the deportation, half a million people, your entire nation. yadda yadda yadda. It does not take a genious to see why Chechens, and N. Caucasian peoples, are totally pissed at the Russians. It is more about nationality and statehood than Allah. Chechens are not Arabs! But the are fighers, so at times they will sell their services to the highest bidder. So this may not be about religion for Chechens, there are some Arabs in their ranks which they tollerate because they need money to fund their activity. But it would be a mistake to draw a parallel between Taliban in Afghanistan and Chechen in Russia.
Posted by: jefe101 || 03/30/2010 5:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Not to be a bore, but if the population of your country, your people, was est. 1.1 million today. During the Second Chechen War you lost est. 25k to 200,k Chechen dead. You might be a little pissed. Why such a wide gap in the est. dead, you can thank the Russians for that. Black Widows or White Stockings, Russians love (and fear) a lethal woman. One thing I know, Russians love to blame the boogeyman (Chechens) for anything bad.
Posted by: jefe101 || 03/30/2010 5:31 Comments || Top||

#8  Is it possible for your face to remain intact after detinating 2+ kilos of TNT under your chin(on a vest presumably)? Posted by jefe101

Yes in fact it is. The head oftentimes pops off like a cork in a champaign bottle, landing a few meters away.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/30/2010 6:18 Comments || Top||

#9  What jefe trying to say Dave is that you over simplify. Why can't you understand that there are many different kind of Muslims---each with it's own reasons for killing infidels!!!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/30/2010 6:33 Comments || Top||

#10  I have seen a couple of gruesome photos which speak to the effect Besoeker describes... The head and feet were intact. Everything else, get a sponge.
Posted by: Free Radical || 03/30/2010 6:36 Comments || Top||

#11  The Russians have an incredible knack for getting into fights with people even more detestable than themselves, thus drawing otherwise undeserved sympathy from the civilized world.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/30/2010 7:06 Comments || Top||

#12  Special teaching point: Cycle of ethnic hate fully explained in cmnts #4 and #6. This material is testable.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/30/2010 7:11 Comments || Top||

#13  During the Second Chechen War you lost est. 25k to 200,k Chechen dead. You might be a little pissed.

Good one.

"He wasn't northern Caucasian...

"Okay, he was but he has every right to commit and act of terrorism."

Helluva spread in the war dead statistics, too.

You'd think you'd might find 250k graves, mass or otherwise.

Chechen war dead has been inflated for a long, long time. Seems the Chechen cause is inflated in self importance as well.

Seems all it takes is several undefended citizens to make a cause just.

I wonder what Colonel Budinov would say about all this?
Posted by: badanov || 03/30/2010 7:42 Comments || Top||

#14  The Russians think that the Chechens are evil bastards.

The Chechens think that the Russians are evil bastards.

I must say I can't find fault with either position.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/30/2010 7:54 Comments || Top||

#15  The Chechens lost every scrap of sympathy I had for them after Beslan - and I did have some; NPR was always banging on and on about them, the poor, pitiful ethnics being picked on (snf!) by the central government.
Now when it comes to Russians and Chechens, I'm wondering if there is a way they both can lose...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 03/30/2010 8:53 Comments || Top||

#16  After reading what Jefe101 said, I would agree that local/ancestral issues very much domninate the russian/chechen conflict. Islam comes into play because it does not have the "forgive your enemy/pray for your enemies" option that Christianity promotes. Martin Luther King mostly succeeded because he explicitly BANKED on that option within the largely Christian white American majority. The current black leadership denies it exists because they need the conflict to create the need for their positions.

Communism doesn't have that option either, and would leverage any such option as weakness, just as Islam does, so "fight it out" both sides must....
Posted by: Ptah || 03/30/2010 8:56 Comments || Top||

#17  I've been following this bunch on and off since Djokar Dudaev. They lost me when Shamil hit the maternity hospital. Nord-Ost was disgusting. And there's a special place in hell for the people who devastated Beslan.

What used to be the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region is now Chechnya and Ingushetia because one of the two groups is genetically nutz. That fact that they're in alliance with al-Qaeda doesn't change anything but the odor.

Will the Russers flatten Grozny again? I don't particularly care if they do. I don't like the Russians generically but they're best friends compared to what I feel for the Chechens.

I occasionally dwell on the symbolism of the fact that "grozny" is Russian for "terrible."
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 11:33 Comments || Top||

#18  Jefe's narrative has a few gaps. First, the West, especially European human rights activists including prominent French politicians, throughout the pre-Putin era castigated Russia's unbelievably brutal handling of the Chechen rebellion. When Putin began assassinating journalists who'd reported on Chechnya, and after Putin attained a degree of quiet in the region, the western protestors called it quits.

Second, the nationalist Chechen rebellion became islamicized in the last decade with the arrival of arab islamist fighters, many of them funded by the same Saudis who financed Al Qaeda. It's no longer about nationality or territory. It is now part of the same struggle that animates the Taliban and AQ.

The Russians have made many errors, and their methods shouldn't be our methods. But we should be on their side in this one.
Posted by: lex || 03/30/2010 11:34 Comments || Top||

#19  Russia has always been a split personality. Part Asian, part European. Lately, if memory serves, there has been a push towards the Asian side to differentiate themselves after the Cold War and all that. i wonder if that will change towards Europe if the Caucasus continue to broil.

Personally I think if Russia used diplomacy instead of thuggish tactics they could become the big-brother, defacto leader of the Europeans.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/30/2010 12:32 Comments || Top||

#20  That would be possible if the pro-western, well-educated, relatively honest and transparent Russian liberals like Nemtsov and Kasparov were ever to attain power. But Russian liberals are weak, small in number, hopelessly fragmented and quarreling. Putin crushes them with ease.

Putin is essentially a gangster-bandit. He doesn't give a damn about national greatness or any other national interest. It's about his loot, which numbers in the tens of billions.
Posted by: lex || 03/30/2010 13:32 Comments || Top||

#21  Here's my understanding of some of this. Some years ago the Russians loaded a quarter of the Chechen men into trains one day and carted them off to Siberia like cattle. Many died along the way. If this is true, I can understand the animosity.

These days, there are many womenfolk around with no related men to vouch for their virginity, and are therefore "useless". They make great fodder for those looking for suicide bombers because they believe as a martyr they will head straight to heaven as the first wife of a 72-woman harem, a place otherwise unattainable.

I don't know why there are so many women around with no male relatives. Is it because of recent fighting?
Posted by: gorb || 03/30/2010 13:44 Comments || Top||

#22  This goes way back before Stalin's time, to the 19c Romanov czars' time. The Russians have been fighting islamic warlords for centuries. Tolstoy's greatest short story/novella, "Hadji Murat", details one of the caucasian/chechen warlords' struggles against the Russians in the mid-19c.
Posted by: lex || 03/30/2010 14:28 Comments || Top||

#23  The book on Chechnya I read said that Stalin transplanted nearly the entire population of Chechnya to Khazakstan (how is that even possible?) and that under Gorbichev or Yeltsin they were allowed to return.

Also a large number of veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan were Chechnyans. So they were exposed to Jihadist thought and trained in various military techniques. Then eventually when the independence movement started the Russians decided to send in Draftees against these Chechnyan vets. The victory that resulted created a lot of momentum amung Chechnyan nationalists.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/30/2010 16:02 Comments || Top||

#24  Of course they also worked with Kim Jung Ill, but Team America put an end to that thankfully.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/30/2010 16:03 Comments || Top||

#25  I've been following this bunch on and off since Djokar Dudaev. They lost me when Shamil hit the maternity hospital. Nord-Ost was disgusting. And there's a special place in hell for the people who devastated Beslan.

What used to be the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Region is now Chechnya and Ingushetia because one of the two groups is genetically nutz. That fact that they're in alliance with al-Qaeda doesn't change anything but the odor.

Will the Russers flatten Grozny again? I don't particularly care if they do. I don't like the Russians generically but they're best friends compared to what I feel for the Chechens.

I occasionally dwell on the symbolism of the fact that "grozny" is Russian for "terrible
."

Now I remember why I read this site.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/30/2010 17:29 Comments || Top||

#26  Anybody who fought the Nazis is good guy in my book. Anybody who fights Islam is good guy in my book.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/30/2010 19:15 Comments || Top||

#27  Y'all prompt me to ask, Did the Nazis have anything to do with the Muslims?

Or were they on the Nazi's "Kill'em all" list?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/30/2010 21:52 Comments || Top||

#28  Nazis supported the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Yassir Arafat's great uncle or somesuch) and some of the Pashas in Iraq.

Amin Al Husseini is founder and President of the World Islamic Congress, and he meet with Heinrich Himmler, and supported the SS.

Pictures here



Does that answer your question about where the Nazis stood on Islam - and what Islam got fromt he Nazis?

Posted by: OldSpook || 03/30/2010 22:25 Comments || Top||

#29  RJ, Muslims were enthusiastic supporters of Nazism. Hitler formed some SS units exclusively from Bosnian muslims, they were among his most fanatical troops. Bonus trivia: the word Iran comes from the same root as Aryan, a literal translation of Iran is "land of the Aryans".
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/30/2010 22:44 Comments || Top||

#30  The Nazis also had a nicely murderous Muslim unit of Bosnians, if I recall correctly. You do want to google that, Redneck Jim, before you quote me.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/30/2010 22:48 Comments || Top||

#31  Scooter beat me to it, and is more right. Well done!
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/30/2010 23:55 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Troops repulse attack on post in Orakzai
[Dawn] A large number of militants were killed in clashes with security forces in different areas of Orakzai Agency on Sunday. Official sources said militants attacked a security post with rockets and machineguns in Ferozkhel area near Kalaya. Troops retaliated and managed to repulse the attack. An official claimed that six militants were killed in the action.

In another incident, militants fired rockets at an army base in Kalaya which landed in nearby fields. In retaliation troops used artillery pieces to pound militants' positions on hilltops. The sources said three hideouts were destroyed and five militants killed.

Forces took control of Gedra area in Ferozkhel.

Military helicopter gunships bombed hideouts of militants in nearby Chapri Ferozkhel area, killing 12 of them.

The government says more than 100 suspected militants and five soldiers have been killed in fighting in the region in the last week. Officials said the militants killed so far include Uzbeks and Arabs.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Police arrests three over jail bomb plot
[Dawn] Pakistani police said Monday they arrested three militants from the country's most feared sectarian group on suspicion of plotting to blow up a Karachi prison to free jailed comrades.

Three members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were arrested in a raid on a house in Rerhi, in the suburbs of Karachi, senior police official Umer Shahid told AFP.

"We have also seized at least 50 kilograms (88 pounds) of explosives, detonators and other material from them, which they had gathered to make a car bomb," said Shahid, who heads Karachi's criminal investigation department.

Among those detained was the Karachi operational commander for the banned extremist Sunni Muslim organisation, he said.

"They wanted to attack Karachi's central prison with a car bomb to free a number of their dangerous comrades who are in jail," Shahid said.

The suspects were also wanted in connection with major sectarian attacks in the city and over possible involvement in kidnappings.

"We suspect them also of kidnapping a transporter who contracted his trucks to supply NATO forces in Afghanistan from Karachi," Shahid said.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is regarded as Pakistan's most extreme Sunni outfit, accused of killing hundreds of Shia Muslims after its emergence in the early 1990s. It was banned by then president Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

The group played a key role in the 2002 kidnap and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl from Karachi and in twin failed assassination bids on key US ally Musharraf in December 2003.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Suicide attacks hits anti-Taliban militia
[Dawn] Suicide bombers targeted anti-Taliban militiamen in northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing three people and wounding another 10 in twin attacks, officials said.

A suicide bomber walked into the office of a militia in Tank, a district of North West Frontier Province -- parts of which suffer heavily from militancy -- and blew himself up shortly after an anti-Taliban meeting.

"One volunteer was killed and two others wounded. It was a suicide attack,"Liaqat Ali, a police official in Tank, told AFP by telephone.

An intelligence official in Peshawar confirmed the incident, saying the office belonged to Qari Misbahhuddin, brother of Qari Zainuddin, a late rival of former Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.

Qari Zainuddin was shot dead by assassins in the northwest in June 2009, while Mehsud was killed in a US missile strike last August.

In the far north of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt, a second suicide attack killed two tribesmen including an elder who headed another anti-Taliban private militia in Mamoond town in the district of Bajaur.

"Two people including Malik Taj Mohammad were killed and eight were injured in this incident. It was a suicide attack," Iqbal Khatok, a senior administrative official, told AFP by telephone.

"Malik Taj Mohammad was heading a lashkar against Taliban in Mamoond,"Faramosh Khan, another administrative official in the area, told AFP.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


New Pakistani restrictions on nuke scientist Khan
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Pakistani court said Monday disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan remained a free man but ordered him to give security services prior notice about his movements, lawyers said

Khan's lawyer, Ali Zafar, said his client would be a "free man" as long as he informed the government about his movement.

In February 2009, a court declared Khan -- revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb -- free five years after he was effectively put under house arrest for allegedly operating a proliferation network.


But the 73-year-old Khan has since filed a string of complaints in court over security arrangements against him. The United States has warned that he still represents a nuclear proliferation risk.

Announcing its decision on Monday, the high court in the eastern city of Lahore effectively upheld the 2009 ruling but issued instructions on the amount of prior notice Khan must give on his movements.

"The court has disposed of the case and validated the decision of the Islamabad High Court on Feb. 6, 2009," said Ahmar Bilal Sufi, a lawyer representing the government.

"Dr Khan will have to inform the authorities 30 minutes prior if he has to go out of his house in Islamabad and one day's prior notice for going out of the city due to security reasons," he said.

He said the attorney general met Khan a few days ago and reached a "mutual agreement" on the issue.

"Dr Khan, if he would like to, can interact with media, but he will not be able to speak on nuclear proliferation issue," he added.

Khan's lawyer Ali Zafar said there would be no restriction on his client's movements, but conceded he would have to give prior notice to authorities so that he could be provided with security.

"The movement of A.Q. Khan will not be restricted, but will be subject to the provision of security and prior intimation of his movement. Khan will not issue any statement on nuclear issues," Zafar said.

In February 2004, Khan confessed on television to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, although he later retracted his remarks.

Pakistan's military ruler and then president Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan in 2004, but he was kept at his residence, guarded by troops and intelligence agents.

The United States has long raised fears about the scientist.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  does this mean we get an opportunity to scoop him up and bring him back here for some "questioning"?
Posted by: Woodrow Cleng2061 || 03/30/2010 11:35 Comments || Top||

#2  He knows too much..............!
Posted by: Paul2 || 03/30/2010 12:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Be a shame if he...fell out a window, or choked to death on some hummus, or drowned in his bathtub or...sumthin.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/30/2010 12:30 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand Dubai is lovely this time of year.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/30/2010 12:33 Comments || Top||

#5  He needs to take a bath with a hair dryer - especially since Pakistan, like most former British territories, uses 220-volt current.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/30/2010 17:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Khan's lawyer Ali Zafar said there would be no restriction on his client's movements, but conceded he would have to give prior notice to authorities so that he could be provided with security.

How... helpful.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/30/2010 21:55 Comments || Top||


Ten militants killed in NW Pakistan
[Iran Press TV Latest] Pakistani security forces have killed at least 10 militants during operations northwest of the country.

On Monday, several other militants were also injured during security operations carried out in Firouz Khel area of lower Orakzai Agency, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Four militants, including two wanted commanders were also arrested in Orakzai's Merobak area.

Police and Frontier Constabulary officials cordoned off the area immediately after the attack.

In another incident, at least two people were killed and three others were wounded when a bomb exploded in Tank town in northwest Pakistan.

Three other people were injured when a suicide bomber targeted a central office of the Peace Committee of Abdullah Group in Tank town.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Iraq's Mass Equipment Withdrawal
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/30/2010 14:16 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Boy, did they get the Army PR guys working overtime. The truth is that a mountain of stuff is going to be given to the Iraqis because it is a lot cheaper to do than taking it out of country.

The trick is to get it to the part of the Iraqi military more interested in using it for something useful than stealing it to sell as scrap.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/30/2010 19:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Leave the HMMVs. We don't need them except for garrison/guard, and they should have enough.

LSAA (Balad) is a fun place. Mortaritaville is what it was when ...

Big PX and field hospital there, some good buildings there as well. Also the biggest busiest air base in the world (outside of Afghanistan that' ramped up now). Wonder what they'll do with that.
Posted by: OldSpook || 03/30/2010 21:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Stopping at Guam coming back from the Pacific, my dad watched the Navy dump dozens of brand new jeeps and trucks into the ocean. They couldn't believe it, but some officer told them it would cost too much to ship them home.
Know anything about that, Joe?
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/30/2010 21:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Same as Cam Ran Bay, spook.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/30/2010 23:33 Comments || Top||


Sadrists to Veto Second al-Maliki Term - Sources
[Asharq al-Aswat] The Sadrist trend and its leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, who remains in Tehran, are currently being courted by Iyad Allawi's Iraqiya bloc and Nuri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition, as both sides attempt to form a majority government. Delegations from the Iraqiya bloc and the State of Law coalition arrived in Tehran to meet with al-Sadr.

Prior to this, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi, both visited Iran on the eve of the election results, although it was announced that this visit came at the invitation of the Iranian government, and was an invitation for the Kurdish President and Shiite Vice President to participate in the Iranian Nowruz celebrations.

Sources informed Asharq Al-Awsat that negotiations with the Sadrist trend began before delegations were sent to Iran, and that Karar al-Khafaji, Chief of the Political Committee of the Sadrist Trend, met with a delegation from the State of Law coalition, and has been in communication with the Iraqiya bloc.

The Sadrist trend is a member of the Shiite National Iraqi Alliance, which won a total of 70 parliamentary seats at the recent Iraqi elections; however the Sadrist trend won 39 of these seats making it by far the most influential party in this alliance.

Senior sources within the Sadrist trend revealed that it is being represented by Qusay al-Suhail in the talks that are taking place in Tehran. Al-Suhail was the Sadrist Prime Ministerial candidate, and is a prominent figure in the trend. As for the State of Law coalition, it has sent Ali al-Adeeb, a senior member of the Dawa Party to negotiate on behalf of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The second State of Law coalition negotiator is former First Deputy Speaker of the Council of Representatives Sheikh Khalid al-Attiya, although it is not known whether Sheikh al-Attiyia traveled to Tehran with Adeeb, or whether he remains in Iraq. Sources indicate that the Sadrists have so far been successful in managing the negotiation file.

A senior member of the Sadrist trend, Nassar al-Rubaie, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Sadrist trend is not vetoing any prime ministerial candidate. However, senior officials close to al-Sadr contradicted this, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that there is a red line with regards to al-Maliki and that at this stage the Shiite alliance "is more important than names." The sources say that the National Iraqi Alliance is capable of choosing a replacement for al-Maliki "for the ultimate goal."

With regards to the National Iraqi Alliance, the Sadrist leadership confirmed that there are certain pre-requisites that cannot be compromised or put aside. One senior Sadrist official who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity said that "the pre-requisites [for forming a majority government] are national partnership in the management of the state, developing institutes on the basis of competence and moving away from quotas and favoritism, and respecting facts and not marginalizing others."

For his part, Mohamed al-Bahadli, al-Sadr's chief representative in southern Iraq, told Asharq Al-Awsat that "dialogue between the victorious blocs and the others has begun, and everybody knows that we are not with any component or against any component, we are with everybody in order to establish a partnership government."

He added "we do not want to fall into the same mistakes that occurred in the past and which cost the Iraqi people a lot, today we are working to resolve all of these errors through dialogue and developing mechanisms to ensure the political process in a way that puts Iraq at the forefront."

While the Shiite movements have turned their attention to Tehran, Baghdad, and Najaf, the Sunni leadership are holding meetings and communicating [in order to form a majority government]. Leader of the Iraqi Accord Front, Iyad al-Samarrai, met with three senior Iraqiya bloc figures in the past 48 hours. Al-Samarrai met with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Rafi al-Issawi, the leader of the Tajdid List Tariq al-Hashimi, as well as Osama Nujaifi.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Dandy. Does this mean every time Iraq has an election, the candidates can only take office after sending their emissaries to the Shia power brokers in Iran?
Posted by: American Delight || 03/30/2010 7:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Potato boy should have long ago been liquidated. As long as his bloated sack continues, he will disrupt the formation of a decent government.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/30/2010 10:05 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Military funeral for Islamic Jihad fighter
[Ma'an] A military funeral was held in Khan Younis Monday for a Palestinian combatant of the the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, whose corpse was retrieved from the site of earlier clashes with Israeli forces.

Al-Quds Brigades member Suleiman Abu Arafat was killed Friday in the bloodiest fighting in Gaza between Palestinian operatives and Israeli forces since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead 14 months prior.

Abu Arafat's funeral procession began in the An-Nasser Hospital and ended in A'bsan, his hometown, at the Abdul Rahman Mosque for prayer, and then to his burial site at the A'bsan cemetery.

The Al-Quds Brigades and resistance factions present at the funeral called for a response to Israel's increased military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh Abdullah Ash-Shami, an Islamic Jihad leader, warned Israeli forces against an escalation of violence in the besieged coastal enclave in response to the death of two Israeli soldiers in Friday's clashes, saying "what will come is greater."

Ash-Shami told mourners that "blood is the title of this stage," adding that negotiations are deemed undesirable by the Israeli government.

On Sunday, medics confirmed that Abu Arafat's body had been found in the Al-Faqqassa area east of A'basan, and was transferred to the An-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Muawiya Hassanein, director of ambulance and emergency services, said Abu Arafat was the brother of Hamdi, who died of wounds also sustained in Friday's clashes.

The Al-Quds Brigades had previously announced that the body of one of its combatants was missing following violent confrontations in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, as well as two Palestinian resistance fighters. Dozens were injured.

Several Israeli military vehicles crossed into southern Gaza shortly thereafter, reportedly opening fire as bulldozers destroyed land. Witnesses said the forces were predominantly targeting olive groves and almond fields in the Abasan Al-Jadida area east of Khan Younis.

An Israeli military spokesman said the incident was sparked when a force found an explosive device, which the source said was detonated. On Saturday, the army reported destroying "terrorist infrastructure" in the same area, the site of Friday's clashes.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad


Hamas men seize $400,000 from Gaza bank
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hamas security forces took $400,000 from a bank in the Gaza Strip on Monday, in a direct challenge to Palestinian authorities in the West Bank who had frozen the money to comply with money laundering regulations.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, said the men were executing a court order to seize the assets of a medical organization, the Patient's Friend Association.


Seeking to apply global regulations against money laundering, the Palestine Monetary Authority (PMA) froze the association's account after its board fell under Hamas control, banking sources said.

Hamas is defined as a terrorist organization by Western powers. It seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from forces loyal to Fatah, a party led by President Mahmoud Abbas.Abbas still controls the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

The PMA described Monday's seizure, the first time Hamas had challenged the authority, as a "sinful attack".

Ehab al-Ghsain, spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said Monday's move was "the implementation of a judicial decision." The association had "resorted to court after the Fatah government froze its account in the bank," he said.

One employee of the Bank of Palestine, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the Hamas policemen had forced the staff to open the bank's vault and acted "aggressively".

"They took 1.5 million shekels ($400,000) and signed a paper showing the amount of money they had taken," the employee said.

It was the first time Hamas had challenged the PMA, which functions as regulator of the Palestinian banking system in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

"This is a serious development. We are investigating the matter and then we will take the appropriate action," Jihad al-Wazir, the governor of the PMA, told Reuters. He declined to give details about the raid.

In a statement, the PMA called on Hamas to "abide by the rule of law to safeguard the soundness of the banks so that they can keep providing services to the people."

Banks in the Gaza Strip would stage a strike on Tuesday to protest at the raid, Wazir said. Around a dozen banks, Palestinian- and Arab-owned, still function in the Gaza Strip, though their headquarters are in the West Bank.

Israeli banks severed ties with banks in the Gaza Strip in 2007 after the Jewish state declared it an "enemy entity."

Hamas is hostile to Israel. It rejects interim peace deals between the Palestinians and Israel and is committed to armed struggle against the Jewish state. Gaza remains under an embargo enforced by both Israel and Egypt.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  a reminder that at heart they are a criminal gang.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/30/2010 18:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "Hamas is hostile to Israel."

Understatement of the decade.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/30/2010 19:58 Comments || Top||

#3  It seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007

Didn't Hamas win an election somewhere along the line? By a lot?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/30/2010 20:05 Comments || Top||


Israeli, PA forces crack down on Beit Lahm protesters
Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) forces have cracked down on protesters at a Beit Lahm (Bethlehem) rally by firing tear gas and stun grenades.

More than 200 people joined the rally on Monday to protest against the unprecedented detention of a high-ranking Fatah official, Abbas Zaki, by Israeli forces during Palm Sunday rallies on March 28; the first arrest of a high-ranking PA official by Israeli forces in recent times.

They were also protesting over the continued detention of other Palm Sunday detainees and also to mark Land Day.

The march began at the Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque and continued to the Gilo checkpoint that separates Beit Lahm and Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Demonstrators included Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muheisin, independent Palestinian politician and former minister of information Mustafa Barghouti, Beit Lahm Governor Abdul Fattah Hamayil, and heads of the popular committees in Beit Lahm, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala and Hebron (al-Khalil).

Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas canisters and stun grenades at the protesters who retaliated by throwing empty bottles and stones.

Muheisin asserted the Palestinian right to non-violent resistance
Dude, once you start throwing hard objects at the authorities you can no longer claim to be non-violent.
and condemned Israeli policy against Muslim and Christian sites and restrictions placed on Palestinian worshipers of both denominations on access to sites in Jerusalem al-Quds to perform religious rites.
"Yeah -- it's our right to go to al-Aqsa and thrown hard objects at the ebil juices in the courtyard below. That's how we worship our god, man."
"The day Israel destroys al-Aqsa, Israel will be destroyed," he said.
But not until? Okay then.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Southeast Asia
Court drops rebel charges
[Straits Times] A COURT in the Philippines has dismissed rebellion charges against a powerful Muslim clan accused of being behind an election-linked massacre of 57 people, the justice secretary said on Monday.

'I have received information that the judge dismissed the rebellion case and his order is to release those detained,' Alberto Agra told DZBB radio.

But Mr Agra said the government intended to appeal the lower court's ruling, and the members of the Ampatuan clan still faced murder charges, so they would not be released from detention.

The Ampatuans are accused of orchestrating the killing of 57 people in the strife-torn southern province of Maguindanao in November last year to stop a rival politician from running against a clan member in national elections.

The patriarch of the clan, Andal Ampatuan Snr, was then the governor of Maguindanao. He was grooming a son and namesake to succeed him in the elections to be held in May this year. The wife and a pregnant sister of the rival politician, along with 32 journalists travelling with the relatives to register his candidacy for Maguindanao governor, were among the victims.

Ampatuan Snr and four of his other sons were among 24 people charged with rebellion in December for allegedly trying to rise up against the government.
Posted by: Fred || 03/30/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
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1Islamic Jihad
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Govt of Syria
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1Taliban
1Lashkar e-Taiba
1Iraqi Baath Party

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trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2010-03-30
  ETA brass hat arrested in Caracas
Mon 2010-03-29
  Two boomers, 38 dead in Moscow metro
Sun 2010-03-28
  Dronezap kills four in N. Wazoo
Sat 2010-03-27
  Allawi wins Iraq election by two seats
Fri 2010-03-26
  B.O. snubs Netanyahu, dines alone
Thu 2010-03-25
  Nativity Church deportee dies alone, unloved in Algeria
Wed 2010-03-24
  Saudis break up 101-strong Al-Qaeda cell
Tue 2010-03-23
  Hekmatyar dispatches peace delegation to Kabul
Mon 2010-03-22
  Boomer kills 10 Helmand picnickers
Sun 2010-03-21
  4 More Dronezapped in N.Wazoo
Sat 2010-03-20
  Al-Shabaab big turban bumped off
Fri 2010-03-19
  David Headley pleads guilty
Thu 2010-03-18
  'Jihad Jane' due in federal court in Philadelphia
Wed 2010-03-17
  N.Wazoo dronezap reduces 10 to component parts
Tue 2010-03-16
  Local Qaeda big turban titzup in Yemen strike

Better than the average link...



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