SANAA - The ancient alleys of Sanaa are still bustling. Shoppers mingle, traders peddle their wares and children play in the street, all to a cacophonous backdrop of roaring motorbikes and honking cars. But there is one thing that is almost entirely missing from the oldest and most picturesque part of the Yemeni capital: tourists.
"We have had no clients for a year and a half," said Madeleine Schaffner from France, who, together with her Yemeni husband, has been running a tour operator for the past 12 years.
This week's kidnapping of two U.S. tourists by armed tribesmen near the capital was another nail in the coffin for the badly needed tourist industry of this impoverished country, said tour guide Mohammad al-Hubaishi.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
why in the hell owuld anyone vacation in Yemen?
Posted by: chris ||
05/29/2010 8:53 Comments ||
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Rinsed through Babelfish and then edited/rewritten for clarity.
This is a very strange story: Apparently someone in the US Embassy was briefed on the incident, but there is no indication in the press that any Americans were busted in VÃcam.
Note: VÃcam is in an area of southern Sonora where remnants of the Yaqui indian tribe have settled.
For more than 16 hours continuously, residents of VÃcam remained locked up in their houses, during a celebration between the streets Oviächic and Vicente Guerrero.
One of the residents told Mexican reporters the celebration began at 0900 on Wednesday, but, shooting started an hour later.
The fear of being hit by stray bullets forced them inside their homes while the party guests continued the celebration.
"At the 2:00 of afternoon the band arrived, so the firings became more frequent, because the musicians began to send greetings to them by the microphones", said the resident.
At 18:15 hours arrived the first police agents, about 30 minutes later arrived the federal police and elements from the Mexican Army as reinforcements.
"We do not know what happened exactly, because we were locked up, we listened to firings, then suddenly, very few , and later everything calmed, but nobody dared to leave, because the police were everywhere, in the streets and alleys," said a resident.
The neighbors agreed that violent acts in the last few months that have taken place in the Yaqui community, has broke the tranquillity of the inhabitants. Residents have asked to the municipal and state authorities to have more presence in the town.
Apparently no one was wounded in the gunfire, according to the Chihuahua Attorney General, but the PGR is still investigating the incident. Other reports say that four people were arrested for carrying illegal arms, probably AK-47s, and those arrested were transferred by truck to Hermosillo, Sonora early the next morning.
Japan said Friday it is slapping new sanctions on North Korea by clamping down on money transfers, while the leaders of Japan and the U.S. pledged cooperation in taking the North before the U.N. Security Council over the sinking of a South Korean warship. Any Security Council action would need the backing of key permanent member China. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was to lay out the case against North Korea in talks Friday with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, a South Korean government official said on condition of anonymity in line with ministry policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Won't be long before China is backed into a corner. Is anyone else left to support Nork money laundering?
#2
CHINA > needs WARM-WATER PACIFIC PORTS + to keep Foreigners out of China + Asia. In a worst case scenario, Beijing likely won't mil intervene as long as there's no shooting war between NK + SK, JAPAN + RUSSIA stays put, + the US stays below the DMZ.
LIMMIE KNOWS THIS, which is why the US, CHINA, + REGION are nervoulsy twiddling hier numbs out of fear as to what Kimmie will do next. ITS NOT NK ATTACKING SOUTH KOREA ALONG THE DMZ, BUT NORTH KOREA UNILATERALLY ATTACKING HIGH-VALUE US + JAPANESE MIL, CIVIE TARGETS KNOWING A MIL RESPONSE + "GREAT POWER" CONFRONTAIION WILL BE INEVITABLE.
#5
A re-militarized Japan would be very useful to China. It would distract from China's plentiful internal problems. Even today, TV serials constantly remind everyone about the WWII period and keep the hatred fresh.
Never underestimate the Chinese long-range planning. They're thinking of a world dominated by China in 2060 and working backward from there.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is visiting South Korea amid continuing tension over the sinking - allegedly by North Korea - of a South Korean warship in March.
The issue is expected to dominate Mr Wen's talks on Friday with the South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak.
International investigators have blamed North Korea for sinking the warship.
But China has so far refused to join in the widespread condemnation of its old ally, Pyongyang.
The Chinese state news agency Xinhua quoted the Chinese ambassador to South Korea, Zhang Xinsen, as saying the visit would "strongly boost" ties between the two countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
20100528 16:55 OldSpook in the O Lounge:
"Warning, I popped a gasket at Girl Thursday. I have had enough of her halfwitted snotty ways. She reminds me of some fucking stupid E4 that thinks they know it all because they had a G-2 junior analyst job at Division someplace.
Someone may want to redact my last comment in that Korea thread. Right now, I'm steamed. Breaking away. Please post that I have been assigned a cooling off if you like"
What a way to handle it. After calling me a twat, halfwit, fuckwit, stupid E-4 Dishonorable little bitch, etc, etc., he attempts to make it go away.
How is this for a solution: I will go away. Much to the pleasure of Rantburgers apparently. The abuse displayed (unchecked) by Mr. Spook is not a necessary accompaniment to obtaining news. And I held a position of responsibility that exceeds the description of me given by Mr. Spook, and I left the service with the word Honorable on my DD214 after years of service.
#2
How is this for a solution: I will go away. Much to the pleasure of Rantburgers apparently.
Not all RBers by any means, GT. Think about it. OS sent himself to his room even before he had cooled down, so that says something(s) both in your favor and his.
If you peel away the emotion from that thread, there was a lot to be learned, and a lot of good places left to explore, mostly because of both of you. Those are the best arguments. I would like to see more (minus the name-calling), but it requires all the players to be thick-skinned, of the variety of those who are truly trying to learn in order to understand. These are the best people to have around in my opinion. They aren't too shy to teach, they aren't too proud to learn, and they can push as hard as necessary to do either or both.
Now what form that pushing/learning/teaching comes in, that is another topic all by itself. But they all have my respect as long as they come as a confident, balanced package.
Although sometimes that confidence and balance comes after a cooling off period. :-)
#3
Enuf of this vile name calling and spitting. You are both restricted to the company area and will be issued an in-basket Article-15 PAYPAL fine of $ 25. First Sergeant Pruitt, collect the fines please. Now both of you, get out of my office!
#4
OldSpook is a well-known crochety old man. Just let him say what he wants. It's when people feel the need to one-up each other and be "proved right" that problems occur. To "punish" rantburg by saying 'I'm taking my basketball and going home!' due to the actions of another poster is childish.
I can't fucking stand the JosephMendiola nonsense smeared all over the website. You know what? I just ignore the guy and don't even read his comments.
#5
GirlThursday, redacting doesn't make a post go away. Redacting puts the post in the Sinktrap with a link, so that anyone can see it, sitting on the stool in the corner with the Idiot cap on. This is considered a punishment here at Rantburg for posts that are out of line. Had I seen OldSpook's post before the roll-over I would have sink-trapped it, but my mother is here for a visit, and we were doing end-of-the-schoolyear offspring stuff during the crucial time period. A choral concert -- they sang Handel's Dixit Dominus among other things.
GT: hang around. We like you even if you're "just an E-4". I appreciate that you served honorably: you served which is more than I did. I find your comments interesting.
OS: chill, dude. You're a good man in a fire-fight but you need, every day, to live up to your ideals and your faith in how you treat people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 10:45 Comments ||
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#7
GT, I too would prefer that you not leave.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/29/2010 11:12 Comments ||
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#8
I would prefer that you both leave. But that's just me. I suspect Rammers comment at the end of the thread was the stuff of truth, altho I don't know if rammer is his real name.
#9
I admit I'm tired of OldSpook's tantrums and constant "ArcLight" rants. I've been lurking and commenting on Rantburg for at least 4 years and rarely gain anything constructive from OldSpook's comments. He comes across as if he is owed something special because he's a veteran and he is quick to name-call, cuss, and belittle people. There are alot of veterans on Rantburg, including myself, who are able to behave and treat others respectfully, unfortunately, he regularly demonstrates he cannot.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/29/2010 12:20 Comments ||
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#10
read past the stuff that is too personal and filter the stuff that is ignorant. we all have something to add, and some parts that are best left unsaid. if we all take a moment to filter what we say, and another to filter what we will react to, we get closer to the 'civil well reasoned discourse'
if any of us leave, we are all diminished. stick around GT, you would be missed.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/29/2010 13:12 Comments ||
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#11
GT don't make a decision while you're hot. Give it a few days.
For what it's worth, I hope you hang around.
#12
So .... I wasn't around y'day, went to read the thread in question.
So far as I can tell, GirlThursday made it personal first by referring to OS' detailed analysis as 'horseshit talk'. FWIW
I haven't an informed opinion re: NBC attack scenarios in Korea. I do note that GirlThursday has made repeated reference in the past to what s/he sees as the stupid, lazy unethical, uncourageous or (your disdainful assertion here) nature of officers, especially senior officers, in general.
It was the commrnt Colonels and above are airlifted out just in the nick of time. that set OS off yesterday. I'm the wife of a retired officer and the friend and colleague of Army and Marine Colonels who've served in theater in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the assumption this comment refers to US (rather than SORK) officers - and there's nothing to suggest it doesn't - I myself find that sort of allegation deeply, deeply offensive as well.
GT, I would be sorry to see you leave Rantburg. But if you toss out comments that impune the honor and integrity of whole groups of military leaders don't be surprised if you trigger a heated and personal response - especially from regulars who are no longer serving because they were seriously injured in combat.
#13
No GT did not use Horseshit first. Reread please. And I have it on good authority that Officers are flown to a safehaven/bunker in severe situations--based on a high level security clearance. The only thing being impuned here is me, so it also is not going to go unnoticed. So if you want to read into my "impune", know that it is based on having an actual security clearance and a collge degree. OH GT Might be an officer too, yall!!!! Security clearance and actual facts. Good we got that out of the way.
#14
Bottom line up front. Your boy calls women twats, dimwits, fuckwits, etc? Regardless of his former enlistment or commission, what is not offensive about that? And why should I not be offended again, since I was on the receiving end of his rude? I don't give a good Goddarn what rank you are, that is not even called for, and if OS is a retired Officer or even enlisted calling a complete stranger on Rantburg a twat is conduct unbecoming.
North Korea's most powerful state organ said Friday that South Korea faked the sinking of one of its own warships and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging ever closer to war.
Pyongyang has made similar statements through state media since a multinational probe said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine downed the vessel, killing 46 sailors in the worst attack on the South Korean military since the Korean War.
This time, though, the comments were delivered at an extremely rare press conference in the North Korean capital presided over by a uniformed official with the secretive country's National Defense Commission, which is headed by leader Kim Jong Il.
North Korea has denied any responsibility and warned that retaliation or punishment for the sinking would mean armed conflict. So far, it has issued various threats, including one to cut off South Korean access to a joint industrial zone in the North and wage "all-out war."
South Korea's military has reported no unusual moves by the North's troops.
"The South Korean puppet regime's faked sinking of the Cheonan has created a very serious situation on the Korean peninsula, pushing it towards the brink of war," Maj. Gen. Pak Rim Su, director of the commission's policy department, said at the press conference, according to broadcaster APTN.
A number of people attended, including some foreigners who may have been Pyongyang-based diplomats, footage showed. A uniformed foreign military officer could be seen watching the proceedings, which were aired in full on state television.
Tensions have soared further since South Korea laid out Monday a series of punitive measures and pledged to haul Pyongyang before the U.N. Security Council. The steps include slashing trade, resuming anti-North Korean propaganda broadcasts across the border and launching large-scale naval exercises off the western coast.
"These anti-North Korean confrontations are an open declaration of war against us and an extraordinarily criminal act that pushes inter-Korean relations into a state of war," Pak said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
My guess is that this claim by the Norks will give China enough cover to use their veto in the Security Council.
#2
The joint industrial zone is worth about $500 million to South Korea. Closing it is for South Korea would be more a symbolic act then a major economic act.
North Korea has recently replaced the director of a department of the North Korean Workers Party's Central Committee codenamed "Room 39," which manages leader Kim Jong-il's coffers and personal slush funds, it emerged Thursday. A North Korean source said Kim Tong-un (75) has been dismissed and his deputy Jon Il-chun (69) has been working in his place.
A South Korean government official said since Jan. 30, Jon has been seen by the side of Kim Jong-il, and it seems highly likely that Kim Tong-un has been replaced. Kim Tong-un had managed Kim Jong-il's slush funds since 1994.
Kim Jong-il and Jon went to the prestigious Namsan High Middle School at around the same time. Jon was appointed deputy director of "Room 39" in 1998.
Kim Tong-un was put on blacklist of North Korean officials by the EU in December, alongside Jang Song-taek, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law and the director of the party's administration department, and Kim Yong-chun, the minister of the armed forces, which is why Kim Jong-il may have decided he is no use to him any more in managing slush funds squirreled away abroad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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A "youth" movement. Inebbitable
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2010 9:52 Comments ||
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Man in Charge of Special Coffers -- the US equivalent is the Commission for Dissipation of Excess Federal Funds.
Sanctions against North Korea by the U.S. government are expected to focus on Kim Jong-il's personal slush funds. The aim is to tighten the noose around Kim and the rest of the North Korean leadership rather than to increase pressure on the North Korean people, in a parallel with the 2005 freezing of what was apparently money for Kim's private use in the Banco Delta Asia in Macau.
I'm wondering why on earth this wasn't done five years ago and maintained to this day. It shouldn't be possible to increase sanctions; sanctions should be as tight as they can possibly be.
U.S. and South Korean intelligence are exchanging information about the bank accounts managed by a department of the North Korean Workers Party's Central Committee codenamed "Room 39," which manages Kim's personal coffers. "We discovered long ago that most of the overseas bank accounts that received money from South Korean businesses involved inter-Korean projects were owned by the North Korean military," said a South Korean government official.
Room 39 is expected to be the main target of the latest financial sanctions. It has 17 overseas offices, some 100 trading companies, a gold mine and its own bank. The $200 million to $300 million earned by subsidiary companies have gone straight into Kim's overseas bank accounts.
The director of Room 39, Jon Il-chun, is expected to face financial sanctions as well. Kim appointed Jon after the former head, Kim Tong-un, was put on a blacklist of North Korean officials by the EU in December.
The U.S. government may also freeze overseas bank accounts held by North Korea's Reconnaissance Bureau, which is believed to have orchestrated the attack on the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March. But some experts say the U.S. may find it more difficult to apply financial pressure on North Korea because the North moved most of its money to accounts in China and Russia.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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China's number two official has assured South Korean authorities that Beijing will not obstruct justice in the sinking of a South Korean naval ship. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao paid a state visit to Seoul on Friday, where officials lobbied him for cooperation in punishing Pyongyang at the United Nations Security Council.
Pull the other finger ...
A South Korean presidential spokesman quoted Wen Friday as saying Beijing "will not protect" those responsible for sinking South Korea's patrol ship, the Cheonan, in March.
The Cheonan was patrolling waters west of the Korean Peninsula near a maritime border long disputed by North Korea when a sudden explosion tore it in half and sunk it, killing 46 sailors. International investigators concluded that it was beyond doubt a North Korean submarine had fired a torpedo at the ship.
In a Seoul meeting with President Lee Myung-bak, Wen was quoted as condemning "any act that destroys the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula." South Korea and the United States are urging China to join them in punishing North Korea with action at the United Nations Security Council. China, however, has not directly said it thinks Pyongyang is responsible.
Wen and Lee will be joined this weekend by Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on South Korea's Jeju island for a three-way summit. While the meeting originally was meant to primarily discuss economic issues, North Korea is likely to top the agenda.
Tokyo tightened its own sanctions on Pyongyang this week, restricting the flow of money to North Korea and passing legislation that empowers its Coast Guard to inspect North Korean cargo in international waters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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A South Korean presidential spokesman quoted Wen Friday as saying Beijing "will not protect" those responsible for sinking South Korea's patrol ship, the Cheonan, in March.
Easy way out: Blame some mystery entity for sinking the Cheonan. Maybe say the US did it to provoke war. Maybe say it was a SKor conspiracy and that the dead were just actors. Who can hold their breath for a really long time.
Japan and the United States have announced a decision to keep a controversial US military base on the southern island of Okinawa following months of tense discussions.
The decision marks a humiliating U-turn for Japan's prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who won widespread support in last year's election with his popular pledges to relocate troops off Okinawa and pursue a "more equal" relationship with the US.
However, following eight months of rising tensions between the US and Japan and countless protests by locals in Okinawa, the agreement as one made by Mr Hatoyama's predecessors in 2006.
Only days before Mr Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline of solving the row at the end of May, a joint statement was issued following a telephone conversation between the prime minister and Barack Obama. It confirmed that the Futenma airbase at the heart of the dispute would be moved, as first agreed in 2006, from an urban area to the coastal Henoko region of the island.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Mr Hatoyama said: "We were able to reach an agreement on the Futenma issue by the end of the month."
The White House added that both leaders "expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the two sides in reaching an operationally viable and politically sustainable plan to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma".
The US military in Okinawa has long been one of Japan's most sensitive domestic issues, with residents complaining of high noise levels, rising crime rates and damage to the environment.
The military have been a permanent presence in Japan's southernmost subtropical region since the end of the Second World War, with about 24,000 troops based there today more than half of Japan's total US military population and their facilities covering a fifth of the island.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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The military have been a permanent presence in Japan's southernmost subtropical region since the end of the Second World War
Actually, since 1 April 1945. The war with Japan and WWII would end in August 1945.
It confirmed that the Futenma airbase at the heart of the dispute would be moved,
How about just closing it and bring the boys home. Way past time to look to your own defense.
#2
The greatest single issue of the FUTENMA BASE CONTROVERSY comes down to PUTTING EARLY 20th CENTURY + WW2 IN THE PAST, + US-INTERNAT TRUST OF JAPAN BEING ALLLOWED TO RE-ARM WID STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
Tokyo broadly desires to keep US bases around until such time Japan is formally allowed in international treatise to dev and posses indigenous StratWeapons espec Nukes, which the US indirectly likes becuz it allows the US to focus on SPACE EXPLORATION + COLONIZATION FUTIRST PROJECTS..
The Spanish city of Lleida has barred women from wearing face-covering Islamic veils inside its municipal buildings.
The move makes the northern city of Lleida - population of 135,000 - the first in Spain to regulate the garments that have triggered debate across Europe.
Lleida's town hall passed the ban Friday with 23 votes in favor, one against and two abstentions.
The gesture is largely symbolic, because town hall spokeswoman Inma Martos said only about 3 percent of the population is Muslim and only a handful of Muslim women in Lleida actually wear body-covering burqas or face-covering niqab
garments.
Martos told The Associated Press the idea behind the ban is that such veils are degrading to women.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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The U.S. military is developing plans for a unilateral attack on the Pakistani Taliban in the event of a successful terrorist strike in the United States that can be traced to them, The Washington Post reports.
Planning for a retaliatory attack was spurred by ties between alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and elements of the Pakistani Taliban, the Post said in an article posted on its website Friday night, quoting unidentified senior military officials.
The military would focus on air and missile strikes but also could use small teams of U.S. Special Operations troops currently along the border with Afghanistan, the Post said.
Airstrikes could damage the militants' ability to launch new attacks but also might damage U.S.-Pakistani relations.
The CIA already conducts unmanned drone strikes in the country's tribal regions. Officials told the Post that a U.S. military response would be considered only if a terrorist attacks persuaded President Barack Obama that the CIA campaign is ineffective.
A senior U.S. official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Pakistan already has been told that it has only weeks to show real progress in a crackdown against the Taliban.
The U.S. has put Pakistan "on a clock" to launch a new intelligence and counterterrorist offensive against the group, which the White House alleges was behind the Times Square bombing attempt, according to the official.
U.S. officials also have said the U.S. reserves the right to strike in the tribal areas in pursuit of Osama bin Laden and other high-value targets.
At the same, the Obama administration is working to improve ties with Pakistani intelligence officials to head off attacks by militant groups, the Post reported.
Officials quoted by the Post and the AP requested anonymity because of the sensitivity surrounding U.S. military and intelligence activities in Pakistan.
#1
At the same, the Obama administration is working to improve ties with Pakistani intelligence officials to head off attacks by militant groups, the Post reported.
The Punjab government had already been informed that terrorists could target minorities in the province, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Friday. According to a private TV channel, Malik said the provincial government had also been informed about a terrorist named Abdul Jabbar and about the attacks that took place on May 13 and 26. Malik said the Tehreek-e-Taliban or al Qaeda could be responsible for the recent killings in Lahore, as the banned organisations had been involved in such terrorist activities earlier.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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Condemning terrorist acts on the Ahmedi community in Lahore on Friday, President Asif Ali Zardari said terrorists had no religion and such acts of barbarism could not break the resolve of the government and the people of Pakistan to defeat terrorism. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani also condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the loss of precious lives. Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Minister of State for Information Samsam Ali Bukhari also strongly condemned Friday's attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Maybe the problem is that they do have this near-stone age 7th century religious which pushes domination, deprivation of the rights, intolerance, lying, and murder.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2010 9:57 Comments ||
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#4
But they do have life long anti-infidel indoctrination from parents, Imams and mosques as well as the readings from the Koran that obligates them to do so.
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer has said Ahmedis had to face gun-and-grenade attacks inside the places of worship in Model Town and Garhi Shahu due to the close relations between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Taliban, a private TV channel reported on Friday.
In a message on a social networking website, Twitter, Taseer said both banned outfits, the Sipah-e-Sahaba and the Taliban militia were united and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was supporting the banned outfits in the province.
He said the extremists were receiving "VIP treatment in the Punjab jails". Taseer said the provincial government had again failed to punish the extremists, who were still in the jails in Punjab.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
And here I thought it was due to the fact that Islam is a religion mad dogs would adopt if they had more facility with language.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan Noorani (JUP-N) and the World Pasban Khatam-e-Nabuwat (WPKN), known to be two of those parties who are most actively working against Ahmedis in the country, and several religious organisations have condemned the terrorist attacks targeting Ahmedis on Friday. The JUP-N started a Khatam-e-Nabuwat movement against Ahmedis in the 70s and later succeeded in having them declared "non-Muslims" through parliament in 1974 and the WPKN, established 31 years ago, had launched various demonstrations against Ahmedis.
"American, Indian and Israeli agencies may be involved in these attacks in a bid to increase the propaganda against Muslims," he said.
However, JUP-N Secretary General Qari Zawar Bahadar told Daily Times that although the organization had differences with Ahmedis, they did not condone terrorism and strongly condemned the attacks on Ahmedis in the provincial metropolis.
Zawar said that the attacks on Ahmedis were a conspiracy launched by international agencies to divert the world's attention from Muslim protests on the Facebook issue. "American, Indian and Israeli agencies may be involved in these attacks in a bid to increase the propaganda against Muslims," he said.
WPKN convener Allama Mumtaz Awan told Daily Times that he condemned the attacks against Ahmedis, saying that such acts of terror were against Islamic teachings. "Although we ran a movement against Ahmedis, we have never crossed any limits because we believe in the rights of all communities living in the country," he said.
To a question, he said that three organizations, including the International Khatam-e-Nabuwat Movement (IKNM), Almi Majlis Tahafuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabuwat (AMTKN) and his own group were actively playing their role for defending the ideology of Khatam-e-Nabuwat, adding that the attacks on Ahmedis were a conspiracy against Pakistan.
Jamaat-ud-Dawa Pakistan (JDP)'s spokesperson Yahya Mujahid, condemning the attacks, said the Punjabi Taliban were responsible.
Also, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hasan condemned the attacks in the provincial capital and termed it a conspiracy on the Youm-e-Takbeer to trigger civil war and justify continued US interference in the country.
Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Jaferia (PTJ) Punjab President Tanveer Naqvi told Daily Times that he condemned every form of terrorism, adding that Friday's attacks were a conspiracy to defame Muslims as terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Zawar (JUP-N Secretary General aka PRIME suspect) said that the attacks on Ahmedis were a conspiracy launched by international agencies to divert the world's attention from Muslim protests on the Facebook issue. "American, Indian and Israeli agencies may be involved in these attacks in a bid to increase the propaganda against Muslims," he said
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakeem, the head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), said on Friday that bridges are still stretched with al-Iraqiya bloc while in the process of building alliances with the Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) and Kurdistan Alliance (KA).
Hakeem, also the leader of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) bloc, called on all political blocs to lower the ceilings of their demands and sit at a roundtable to discuss ways to accelerate the formation of a government.
Consultations are underway inside the INA to forge optimal stances and consider steps that would help lead to formation of a new government,' Hakeem told a gathering of Feyli Kurds at al-Mansour Hotel in Baghdad on Friday.
Feylis are a group of Shiite Kurds who had been the target for organized displacement to Iran during the 1980s on the pretext that they belong to Iran. The former regime had confiscated their property, money and stores.
When we speak of a national partnership then we have to lay a roadmap for national bilateral, trilateral and quadrilateral alliances, which are the only the outcome of such meetings, contacts and views,' said Hakeem.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of activists braced on Friday for the final leg of their attempt to bust the Gaza Strip embargo, a bid Israel vowed to defeat, as each side accused the other of violating international law.
Two cargo ships and five smaller boats loaded with thousands of tonnes of supplies and hundreds of passengers steamed towards a rendezvous off Cyprus where they planned to group before setting out for the Palestinian territory.
Organisers said an eighth ship, the Rachel Corrie that had left from Ireland, was lagging behind and would travel towards Gaza separately. Maybe she had a flat.
The ships will meet in international waters, they said.
"We have members of parliament from Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Bulgaria. We are going to put them on a boat in Famagusta," she said.
Greece and Cyprus regard the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, where Famagusta is the main port, as an illegal entity.
Israel made it clear it intends to halt the vessels and detain the hundreds of people aboard in the port of Ashdod before deporting them.
Pro-Palestinian activists have landed in Gaza five times, with another three attempts unsuccessful since their first such sea voyage in August 2008.
To date, the aid has been largely symbolic, but organisers say the flotilla now under way is laden with 10,000 tonnes of aid, ranging from pre-fabricated homes to pencils.
#3
@ #2. Unlike America and it's press, the Israelis usually don't telegraph their punches nor discuss strategy in the news outlets.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
05/29/2010 15:44 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Again, I just wish that the Israelis had discreetly sabotaged several of these boats at sea, in such a way as to turn their effort into a cluster. There are just so many ways that they could do it, too.
#5
Hundreds of activists braced on Friday for the final leg of their attempt to bust the Gaza Strip embargo
You useful tools know what happens to legs in Gaza? They get shot in the feets, and then greedy doctors cut off their feets. I read it in Rantburg - tu and cornsilk blondie, I think
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2010 18:06 Comments ||
Top||
RAFAH - Huddled in a tent near the mound of rubble that used to be his home, Eissa al-Sidudi says out loud what many Gazans would only mutter in private: Hamas has gone too far. On May 16 Hamas police dragged his wife and eight children out of their squat cement house and pummelled him with wooden batons as bulldozers razed the building along with nearly 20 other homes.
"They didn't come here as a government, they came as an enemy power," he said, surrounded by several nodding neighbours who are also camping out at the site, an outcrop of sand dunes on the edge of the town.
THE COURTYARD of the Pentagon feels like a cross between an arms fair and a used-car lot on a fine May morning. Congratulations 1,000,000 Army Unmanned Aircraft System Flight Hours,' says a banner.
With 5,456 US servicemen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Afghan war going badly, the US military celebrates what it can. Unmanned Aircraft Systems, also known as Unmanned Aircraft Vehicles but referred to as drones, are the military's most important technological asset. Last year the CIA's director, Leon Panetta, called the Predator drone programme the only game in town'.
We've reached a turning point in the history of war, and maybe in humanity,' says Peter Singer, director of defence studies at the Brookings Institution and author of Wired for War , which chronicles the shift to robotic warfare. There were only a handful of drones in the inventory when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, Singer says. Today there are more than 7,000 airborne drones, and some 12,000 ground-based robots . . . Very soon there will be tens of thousands.'
This week the army chose to advertise its drone revolution by inviting journalists to a press conference celebrating the millionth hour. Col Gregory Gonzalez, project manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, tells us drones are equivalent to the use of radar in the second World War, or helicopters in Korea and Vietnam. They've been funding us really well, because they know there's a bang for the buck,' Col Gonzalez says. More
#1
Troop losses in both Iraq and Afghanistan way down this year. Much of the credit for this are these drones.
Part of the reason is that Pakistani do not have a serious issue with American drones flying over their territory and dropping bombs. They probably would if there were people in those planes.
UN nuclear inspectors revisiting an Iranian laboratory suspected of involvement in a nuclear weapons program discovered that equipment has been removed, diplomats said Friday.
Senior officials within the International Atomic Energy Agency are concerned that the removal was part of a cover-up.
The equipment can be used for pyroprocessing, a procedure used to purify uranium metal used in nuclear warheads.
Iran had confirmed that it carried out pyroprocessing experiments, but then backtracked in March.
The experiments prompted IAEA experts to revisit a site where they had apparently already seen the equipment, the Jabr Inb Jayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory in Tehran, but they found some of the equipment had been removed to an undisclosed site.
Three diplomats speaking anonymously, said an electrolysis unit used in separating out impurities from uranium metal was among the apparatus that had been removed. Another said chemical apparatus used in the process were now missing.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iran where lying and deception is a way of life. Why would anyone believe anything anyone says in Iran? Better develop a policy that includes this stalling for time, deception, and lying like taking out their nuclear capability ASAP.
The Syrian government has denied that the bases are being used by Hizbullah, claiming they are for Syrian military use only.
In the beginning of April , Kuwait's Al-Rai newspaper reported that Syria had transferred Scud ballistic missiles to Hizbullah. Israel subsequently issued a stern warning that it would consider attacking both Syrian and Lebanese targets in response to a Scud attack on its territory.
Last month, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein warned that Hizbullah had acquired Scud missiles and improved its missile capabilities.
"There are rockets and missiles in Lebanon in greater quantities and levels of sophistication and this point endangers Israel," Feinstein said to AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
An ad aimed at Muslims who want to leave Islam that was rejected for display by a regional bus system has prompted a lawsuit alleging violation of constitutional rights.
"Americans have a right to know the truth -- Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, the Ann Arbor public interest law firm that filed the lawsuit with the Law Offices of David Yerushalmi P.C. Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit. "Christians, Jews and other non-Muslim minorities are persecuted in every country where Islam dominates," Thompson said in a news release.
The suit was filed on behalf of the Freedom Defense Initiative, which sponsored the ad and had sought to display it on Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation buses. The Freedom Defense Initiative's website says its objective is "to go on the offensive when legal, academic, legislative, cultural, sociological and political actions are taken to dismantle our basic freedoms and values."
According to the lawsuit, SMART this week refused to display the group's bus ad, which read: "Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!"
The lawsuit alleges the transportation authority violated First and 14th Amendment rights dealing with free speech and equal protection. Attorneys also said SMART previously displayed an ad from the Detroit Area Coalition of Reason, an atheist group, which read: "Don't Believe in God? You are not alone."
"In Detroit, government officials grant atheists the right to express a view that God does not exist, not worrying about offending Christians," said Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center. "Yet, these same politically correct officials censor speech that might offend Muslims. Such blatant discrimination is offensive, and it violates our Constitution."
#6
Not sure where people get the idea that the first amendment guarantees a venue for your opinions. It simply states that you wont be imprisoned or killed for speaking against the govt. We've made it into soooooo much more than that over the years.
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.
SANAA - The ancient alleys of Sanaa are still bustling. Shoppers mingle, traders peddle their wares and children play in the street, all to a cacophonous backdrop of roaring motorbikes and honking cars. But there is one thing that is almost entirely missing from the oldest and most picturesque part of the Yemeni capital: tourists.
RAFAH - Huddled in a tent near the mound of rubble that used to be his home, Eissa al-Sidudi says out loud what many Gazans would only mutter in private: Hamas has gone too far. On May 16 Hamas police dragged his wife and eight children out of their squat cement house and pummelled him with wooden batons as bulldozers razed the building along with nearly 20 other homes.
