#4
How is that possible, BP? Y'all having such strict anti-gun laws and all....
(Seriously, sorry for the loss of life.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/02/2010 18:44 Comments ||
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#5
I thought you'd have put this on the site?
Bright Pebbles, we rely on our foreign correspondents like you for local stories; Rantburg is a wisdom of crowds kind of place. Granted, a very special kind of crowd, but even so. Your link definitely counts as a lurid crime tale, but thankfully appears not to be at all related to the war on terror.
Troops in Afghanistan have captured a Taliban shadow governor not long after killing his predecessor, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Wednesday.
Afghan and international forces captured the Taliban shadow governor of Baghlan province, in northern Afghanistan, as he prepared to go to Pakistan on Monday, the NATO-led military command said in a statement. The capture came just after an airstrike killed the former shadow governor.
The Taliban has shadow governors around Afghanistan. They are front men in a de facto Taliban government network that works alongside the elected legitimate government of Afghanistan.
The Taliban shadow government functions under the name of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It is organized much like a legitimate government, with the Taliban appointing governors, giving them performance reviews and replacing them if necessary, according to a report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan.
The Taliban are known for embracing a strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law, and the shadow government has set up courts to deliver "swift and enforced" justice both in areas controlled by the Taliban and in areas controlled by the Afghan government, according to McChrystal.
Taliban fighters and laborers are taxed, McChrystal wrote, and the Taliban claim to provide security against the Afghan government and coalition forces as well as those seen as criminals.
The International Security Assistance Force said Wednesday that troops captured the shadow governor in Baghlan a day after an airstrike killed his predecessor. On Saturday, however, the force said the previous shadow governor in Baghlan died in a strike on Friday.
"This capture marks the third time in as many weeks that the Taliban have had to replace named shadow governors for Baghlan province because of coalition operations," the NATO-led military command said Wednesday.
#2
i can't understand why the fighters fight for them and taxed too fight for them? It's not like they have a pay system on a regular basis and if they did where would you spend it at the bullet warehouse???
Posted by: chris ||
06/02/2010 20:04 Comments ||
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Hamid Karzai opened a peace assembly on Wednesday morning to the sound of rockets exploding nearby. The Afghan president calmly asked attendees to remain seated when the Taliban launched a series of suicide attacks and gunfire intended to stop the meeting, which has the goal of winning support for Karzai's plan to persuade the Taliban to stop fighting. "Our main purpose is to disrupt the peace jirga," Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman said, acknowleding that he had sent four suicide bombers to Kabul.
"It was a quick response by our security forces," said a presidential spokesman, Waheed Omer, according to the New York Times. " 'All three suicide attackers were killed.' He maintained they did not get close enough to pose a threat to the jirga." With gunfire in the background, Karzai addressed the Taliban directly in his opening remarks, asking them to join the talks.
After breaking for an hour and a half, the group resumed its meeting and elected Burhanudin Rabbani, a member of the coalition of opposition presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, as its chairman. The conclusions of the jirga are nonbinding, and watchers wonder how seriously they will be taken by Afghans, but convening the group was one of Karzai's campaign promises last year. "The outcome is largely preordained, as the government has handpicked the delegates and broadly set the parameters of the discussion," the New York Times reported.
"But the event is not wholly without risk. It is already being criticized as being more symbolic than practical, and even as a show of national unity intended to wring money from international donors." Despite some cynical response, Karzai's followers believe the only way to end the war is to open talks with the Taliban leadership and with insurgent-backing Pakistani officials. "I will tell you in two words how to bring peace," said one member of parliament who served as a governor during the Taliban's rule. "First, talk to the Taliban leadership and second, convince Pakistan."
[Maghrebia] Abou El-Abbes, the senior al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader initially reported as captured during a Boumerdes security sweep, actually surrendered on May 25th, Algerian security services announced on Monday (May 31st). "The surrender was made possible through the assistance of his wife, who managed to convince her husband to abandon the criminal horde and return to his family", an unnamed security source told APS.
El-Abbes (real name Othmane Touati), a member of Al-Qaeda's Council of Notables (Majles al-Ayan), Law Committee chief and long-time "right hand" to AQIM chief Abdelmalek Droukdel, was responsible for co-ordinating terrorist operations in Algeria's restive Boumerdes, Tizi-Ouzou and Bouira provinces.
His surrender marks the latest in a series of defections from al-Qaeda. Another terrorist, Grig-Ahsine Abdelhalim, turned himself in the same day as El-Abbes. The Algiers native joined al-Qaeda precursor GSPC in 1994 after escaping from Batna's Tazoult prison. AQIM medical committee head Mokadem Lounis, aka Abou Naamane, surrendered in mid-April, as did former El-Farouk brigade emir Ahmed Mansouri Ahmed, aka Abdeldjebbar.
This article starring:
ABDELDJEBAR
al-Qaeda in North Africa
ABDELMALEK DRUKDEL
al-Qaeda in North Africa
ABU EL ABES
al-Qaeda in North Africa
ABU NAAMANE
al-Qaeda in North Africa
AHMED MANSURI AHMED
al-Qaeda in North Africa
GRIG AHSINE ABDELHALIM
al-Qaeda in North Africa
MOKADEM LUNIS
al-Qaeda in North Africa
OTHMANE TUATI
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder why they 'outed' him. Now AQIM will have to kill him to save face.
Five Die in Northern Mexico
Five people lost their lives in drug and gang related violence in northern Mexican states, including the murder of a man and his toddler.
A young man and his daughter were shot to death in the course of a police stakeout in Juarez, according to Mexican news reports.
Adrian Hernändez, 22 and his daughter, Linaly, 3, were shot by armed suspects who were being followed by Mexican federal agents near the intersection of Fernando Montes de Oca y Luciano Becerra in the Papalote district of Juarez. Reports are the two were shot with AK-47s. Witnesses say they were shot about 14 times.
Two unidentified men were found shot to death inside their car near Meoqui, Chihuahua, say Mexican news reports. Both men were bound and shot several times in the head with AK-47 and 9mm weapons. They were aboard a Chrysler Sebring located near the intersection of Coordenada 42 and Canal Revestido.
An unidentified man was found shot to death in his vehicle near the Canteras district south of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Police were dispatched neat the intersection of Avenida Enrique H. Herrera and Paseo Belinda, by reports of car containing a partially decomposed body. Investigators at the scene sai the man was shot to death, but did not release any other information.
I'm a little surprised by how resolutely Turkey is turning against Israel at this moment (although it's been building for years). When I was living in Ankara, it wasn't too hard to find a Turkish-language copy of Mein Kampf in mainstream bookstores; even more widespread was books of conspiracy theories of every stripe and variety. Many Turks believed that there was a secret Israeli plot to harm Turkey; they also believed in a secret American plot with the same goal, a secret European plot, a secret Iranian plot, a secret Arab plot, a secret Russian plot, a secret Chinese plot, a Vatican plot, and perhaps a secret plot by the penguins in Antarctica. From my experience, the first rule of Turkish political philosophy is that everyone is always out to get Turkey, and the fact that what most Americans know about Turkey could fit on a 3×5 index card is no impediment to this conclusion. We may be subconsciously conspiring against them.
(Rule number two of of Turkish political philosophy is that they're not Arabs and in their minds, Turks are nothing like Arabs. They're like Europeans; sophisticated, comparatively wealthy, advanced, educated, technologically innovative, honorable and nothing like those backwards despotic hellholes across the border. A lot of Turks look at Arab states as former branch offices of the Ottoman Empire; the sense is that they couldn't be anything like the Arabs because they used to rule over the Arabs.)
But while I was there (2005 to 2007) it seemed like the suspicion pointed in every direction kept the nation in a state of equilibrium; sure, Prime Minister Erdogan and the foreign ministry crew seemed convinced that Syria's Pervez Assad was a reformer (Ha!) and that they had great incentive to have a healthy, friendly relationship with Iran, but the staunchly secular, more pro-Western military leaders knew who was a real threat to the Turkish state and who wasn't. Keep in mind, it was just in November 2007 that Turkey invited Shimon Peres to address the Turkish Parliament, the first time an Israeli president (or any significant Israeli figure, really) spoke before the legislature of a Muslim country. These days, at the risk of breaking rule number two, Turkish foreign policy isn't all that distinctive from that of the Arab states.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/02/2010 10:04 ||
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#1
as near as I can tell, two things happened:
* Turkey used to have a large number of refugees from the Former Soviet Union, some of them dating back to the civil war that started the thing. Those guys knew what the real existential threat was, and didn't let themselves get distracted. Those adults are now gone, and their grandkids missed something on the road to maturity. This doesn't explain the difference between 2007 and now, but it does between 1960 and now. Also, with the fall of the SU, they probably don't think they have an existential threat.
* Oh, and we've given Saudi Arabia enough money over the years to buy massive influence in the Turkish political process in many ways, and they used it that way.
Unfortunately noone ever had to write an environmental impact statement for giving the Saudis that sort of money.
Posted by: chris ||
06/02/2010 11:07 Comments ||
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#3
What happened to the Turks? Hell, what happened to the Americans? You can talk about Erdogan all you want but, for my money, Obama is far more dangerous.
#4
Different government + a changed external environment = perceived new opportunities to the east and fewer opportunities to the west. Turkey sees no upside from either the EU or NATO and tremendous upside from the mideast power vacuum created by Saddam's departure and Iran's rise. There's no cost to defying the US on Iran (or, in 2003, on Iraq), and much to be gained from bashing Israel.
Similar calculations are being made now by the Russians especially, also the Brazilians. India will be put in the same spot eventually as well.
The damage now being engendered by Obama's weakness is deep and will haunt us for a long time.
#5
Turkey sponsored the flotilla as they are repositioning themselves to be the next leaders of Islam or the new Caliphate.
Erdogan has been visibly aiming that way since he prevented the 4th ID from completion of its part in the Iraq invasion.
When he saw no entry into the EU and then EU "PIGS", which are in better shape than Turkey, being forced out he knew it would be a cold day in hell before Turkey made it into the EU.
So now Caliphate II looks attractive.
The dice look too exciting to Islamist Erdogan not to throw.
#6
Ok, here is my two cents worth on this subject. First, I agree completely that Turkey firmly believes they are a better class of Muslim than the Arabs or Persians. They also long to be the Muslim world leader, back to their glory days and they still hold the EU and the Christian West in contempt. I think their strategy is pretty transparent.
Iran is the current Muslim world leader. Like it or not, they come to the defense of all Muslims around the world, Bosnia, Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, you name it, Iran is supporting the Jihad with money, arms and advisors. Bin Laden may be the face of AQ, but he is just the puppet. Iran does all the Saber rattling with the West and is poised to be nuclear, which will help solidify them as the Muslim leader of the world.
The US and the rest of the West is showing weakness diplomatically, economically, and militarily. The West is, however, fairly united against Iran, hobbled by cowards and ineffective leaders, but still the West sees Iran as a growing threat. If ever a Muslim nation was to stand up to be the new leader of everything Islam before Iran holds all the cards, now is the time. I think Turkey is going to make larger steps in this direction.
So why did they support the flotilla? They want to be seen by the East that they alone are standing up to the Israel for the people of Gaza. This was a giant PR event that is going great in the Middle East. Everything Iran does is covert, Egypt is closing its borders, Turkey to the rescue. They knew the world would cry out in ignorant sympathy the flotilla. My guess is in the next step Turkey will demand to be allowed to take relief supplies under the eye of the UN to Gaza. Played in the Eastern media as Turkey takes on the JOOS and wins for the people of Gaza while the rest of the Muzzie world sits idle. This stunt will get them credibility in both the West and the East. A hand well played. Obama, will remain silent. He will not speak out against Turkey, he is after all a Muslim and will not say a bad word. He will also remain fairly silent over Israel, he is on thin ice for snubbing Israel and his Jewish base is wavering. He will jump all over a UN resolution for supervised relief efforts.
The interesting thing will be with Hammas and Lebanon. I wonder how they plan on getting control of Hammas or how they plan on moving Hammas out of control. I suspect they will engineer Iran into a near war with Turkey and the Muslim world will see Turkey as moderate and unifying, most of the Islamic countries will side with Turkey. The soddies, UAE, Jordan, and most other Muzzie countries see Iran as destabilizing and a greater threat. They are tired as we are of the wars and want to stabilize and sell oil to their drug addict infidels in the West. Turkey gaining political dominance will be more acceptable and supported. Syria and Iran will be isolated as rogue in the Islamic world.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/02/2010 12:32 Comments ||
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#7
Any Turkish government, secular or islamist, military-led or civilian-led, would respond as Erdogan's government has done-- just as any Russian government would seek to expand its influence in the middle east and eastern Europe.
Bottom line is that aspiring regional hegemons are no longer restrained by either the Cold War or by lack of cash-- Russia has a surplus of some half a TRILLION-- and are determined to throw their weight around in their backyards.
Foreign Minister Davutoglu is the man responsible for the country's new international activism. Bookish, soft-spoken and extremely smart, Davutoglu is not an Islamist. Rather, he correctly perceived the role Turkey can play in a much-changed world. The structural changes resulting from the end of the Cold War, Europe's continuing rebuff of Turkey, and the economic opportunities to the country's south, east, and north have driven Davutoglu's thinking, not the Quran. Moreover, despite the bitter political battle being played out in Turkey over the country's political trajectory, there is general agreement across the political spectrum on the direction of Turkish foreign policy. Other Turkish governments might have been more cautious about the TRR deal, but they certainly would be seeking to maintain good relations with Iran, Iraq, and Syria, not to mention Russia.
#8
The current gov't is Islamic. Their major concern is that the Turkish military, which under Attaturk's reforms, are required to keep the government secular, will rise up against them. A number of arrests and charges over the past year were aimed at heading off such a coup. The gov't is particularly annoyed at the military for their close ties with Israeli military. In providing a Turkish ship and sacrificial pawns, they have managed to paint the military into a corner with respect to a) their ties with Israel and b) any attempt on the gov't. I think the Turkish gov't helped set up this scenario.
Posted by: chris ||
06/02/2010 14:26 Comments ||
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#10
Back a few years ago (I think the late 1990s), Turkey itself investigated and exposed and prosecuted the arab terrorist orgs operating there.
Now, Turkey works actively with those same terrorist orgs.
That's the Islamist difference.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/02/2010 14:31 Comments ||
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#11
The gov't is particularly annoyed at the military for their close ties with Israeli military
Maybe so, but the pro-arab, anti-Israeli foreign policy is said to be wildly popular with the Turkish population. If so, then a successor military government would have great difficulty returning to its former pattern of close cooperation with Israel.
IOW, the Turkish-Israeli partnership is finished. Turkey's now the big dog in the eastern mediterranean.
We'd damned well better elect a foreign policy president in 2012-- not another lefty one-worlder but also not a right-wing looney-tarian isolationist type.
The world's getting a lot more complex, in a hurry, and in ways that aren't to our advantage.
The islamicists have out manouvered the secular Atturkists.
More generally, democracy is only liberal in predominately secular societies or societies where church and state are separated.
And I agree with the comments that Turkey is now looking East rather than West. They see themselves as defenders of the Turkic peoples who are spread across central Asia to and across the Chinese border (the Uighiurs). Add nostalgia for the glory days of the Ottoman Empire and the whole Caliphate thing of radical muslims.
The West no longer needs Turkey to contain the Soviet Union and Israel doesn't really need them either.
Tying Turkey to the West and Nato was always a marriage of convenience which neither party now wants or needs.
This is going to be true for not just the islamist Turks but also the Turkish military.
Look at it from the Turkish generals' POV. What does NATO offer the Turkish military? Protection? Against whom, the Greeks? AYFKM?
But the middle east is now an open field for ambitious Turkish leaders who care about extending Turkey's influence in the world.
Any Turkish politician leader from here on out will no longer to Washington or to Europe, which can neither help them nor hinder them much, and will look eastward to realize Turkey's destiny.
#17
They couldn't resist exploiting the West's provocative weakness.
What really surprised me about the American response to 9/11 was that the entire American political class, both moderate "New Democrats" and an ostensibly hawkish Republican administration seemed to abandon the principle of deterrence.
There was a military response; and that response initially yielded some desirable results, but there was not even an element of retribution.
Indeed, the US took active steps to avoid the impression of a punitive intent towards anyone by renaming the military operation. "Infinite Justice" was transformed into neutral "Enduring Freedom".
The official rationale for the Afghanistan war is that we (NATO) are there to protect and to serve our allies, the Afghan people. We are there to facilitate their reconciliation with the Taliban, and rebuild their country with our blood and treasure.
There is no intent anywhere to punish anyone, any party for 9/11.
If the response to the organizers of a 21st century Pearl Harbor is a therapeutic intervention, then why should anyone fear the consequences of lesser provocations vs the West?
This is what I believe the Turks, and other potential unfriendlies (Argentina/Falklands!) are basing their calculations on.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] In the Geo News programme "Aaj Kamran Khan Ke Saath, the host Kamran Khan in his report said that President Asif Ali Zardari's close friend and industrialist Riaz Laljee had mysteriously resurfaced after his mysterious disappearance. It is yet to be revealed as to who had picked him up and why. What was the motive behind the incident?
These questions are still unanswered. But it appears that the message that was to be passed on had landed at the set target, Kamran Khan said. Giving details of the incident he said many aspects of the abduction of Riaz Laljee are still not clear and there answers are not available.
It remains a major problem and posed a challenge for the government. The abduction cases are common in the country, especially in Karachi where one or two persons are lifted every week that includes businessmen and children. This however creates no significant panic or disturbances as was witnessed after the abduction of Laljee.
The Federal Minister for Interior, Rehman Malik, himself dashed to Karachi on board the first available flight. According to reports President Asif Ali Zardari himself curtailed his stay in Dubai and rushed to Karachi. That forced the entire security force to launch a massive hunt to nab the people who had picked up Riaz Laljee.
It is learnt that Riaz Laljee had not surfaced after the efforts of the security and sensitive agencies but the abductors had themselves released him. How he was set free? To whom credit goes, the interior minister had whole-heartedly praised the Sindh government, the Sindh Police and explained the importance of CCTV cameras. He also lauded the services of ISI and IB.
But question remains as to who were the abductors of Riaz Laljee and why their identity could not be established? It also remains to explain as to what was the objective of Riaz laljee's abduction and why their identity could not be established. What was the objective of abduction and how it became possible that the abductors were informed about his arrival in Karachi early in the morning at 4.30 on board PK 214 from Dubai?
It appears that the abductors were aware about the whole programme and not only easily picked him up but kept in their custody for 24 hours. Nobody knows what happened with Laljee during those 24 hours, where and under what conditions he was kept, to what extent he was interrogated and what was extracted from him? It is also a mystery as to what purpose of the abduction was told to Laljee? There is no clue as to who had abducted him and what was their objective.
Although the Federal Interior Minister is giving credit of his recovery to the Sindh interior ministry, ISI and IB but it was not revealed as to who were the abductors of Riaz Laljee and where they had evaporated. Why ransom was not demanded or any other demand was put forth if he was abducted?
If the abductors could know his flight number, destination and timings then they may also be knowing as to who Riaz laljee was and also the extent of his influence in the present government? He was released after being kept in confinement for 24 hours. Both his disappearance and surfacing were a mystery. No answers to these questions are available. So these questions and suspicions remain there and the impression is not clear that the message the abductors wanted to pass on had landed at the appropriate quarter.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Two people, a prayer leader among them, were gunned down by unidentified attackers here on Monday night, police sources said.
Qari Abdul Mateen and his associate Hafiz Usman were passing through the Toghi Road area when two armed men on a motorbike opened fire on them. Both died on the spot. Police took the bodies to civil hospital. The assailants escaped after committing the crime. The cause of the attack could not be ascertained. "We are investigating the incident," DIG (operations) Hamid Shakeel said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Forty-three suspects, five of them from the Orakzai Agency, were arrested and arms were seized from them here on Monday.
A press release issued from the office of the district police officer said regular and special force contingents carried out a search operation in refugee camps and villages.
Police recovered six Kalashnikovs, two Kalakovs, four repeaters, seven shotguns, eight rifles, 14 pistols, hundreds of cartridges, seven kilograms of hashish and 25 bottles of liquor from the arrested persons.
POLICEMAN INJURED: One policeman was injured when militants opened fire on a police vehicle in the Doaba area of Hangu on Monday.
Police were on a routine patrol when they were attacked by two motorcyclists, injuring constable Amjad who was taken to the Hangu hospital.
Meanwhile, a child was injured when a rocket hit a house in the Zargari area of Hangu on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Pakistan army declared victory Tuesday over the Taliban in one of their strongholds in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, saying the military operation in that region is finished.
The offensive in the Orakzai region came on the heels of a similar operation against the Pakistani Taliban militant network in the South Waziristan tribal area. Many of the militants in South Waziristan were believed to have fled to Orakzai, which lies farther north.
The army said civilians who have fled Orakzai could expect to return home soon. More than 200,000 people are believed to have poured out of the area since the end of last year, while officials have put the death toll of militants in the hundreds.
The announcement was part of a military statement describing a visit to Orakzai and neighboring Kurram tribal regions by the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
''(Kayani's) visit to Orakzai Agency marks the successful conclusion of operations in the agency,'' the statement said, adding, ''He appreciated the professional conduct of the operation which has cleared the agency of terrorists.''
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Two suspected terrorists involved in Jinnah Hospital attack were arrested from Muridke, Geo News reported.
Five persons including three policemen were gunned down when at least four terrorists clad in police uniforms stormed into the 'well-guarded' emergency ward late night, in a futile bid to rescue or kill an under-treatment terrorist injured in the attack on an Ahmedi worship place in Model Town on May 28.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Nine wanted persons and suspects were captured and an amount of munitions and weapons during search raids all over the province of Basra on Tuesday, a local police source said.
"Forces from the province's police conducted 13 search raids in different areas of the province, arresting five on criminal charges and four suspects others," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"The raiding forces also seized Kalashnikov assault and Semenov rifles and other guns," the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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THE DELAYED Free Gaza Movement's cargo ship Rachel Corrie yesterday assumed a holding position in the eastern Mediterranean, poised to make a fresh attempt to reach Israeli-blockaded Gaza.
Organiser Greta Berlin said the ship was waiting for Challenger II , a small passenger boat which suffered failure of its steering gear while preparing for the passage.
The two vessels, their crews and passengers are undeterred by the Israeli commando operation against the flotilla which cost the lives of nine passengers and climaxed in the detention of the other 679 on board.
The Rachel Corrie , which began its voyage in Ireland, was named after a young US woman killed by an Israeli bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza.
Among those on board are Nobel Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former UN assistant secretary general Denis Halliday.
Ms Berlin said the ships would be picking up other human rights activists and journalists before attempting the passage which Israel has vowed to stop.
"Israel can haul the Rachel Corrie into Ashdod as it did the other boats or show goodwill to the world by allowing her to proceed to Gaza," she stated.
#2
This next boat will only have about 15 activists on it or so. It should be no problem unless they start shooting. Israel should send in commandos with live webcams on them.
Silver lining: Israel gets a do-over, even though AFAIAC they did fine the first time around. Israel gets to write the script this time, too.
#12
This cargo ship is apparently pretty big (200'+). It is almost 50 years old.
If the Israelis disabled the propeller, it would take several days (in the hot sun) to tow it to Ashdod and by then the ship would be worth scrap (if it isn't already).
On the bright side Maguire may well give an impassioned anti Obama speech. She has already written a long criticism of the Nobel prize going to Obama (because the US has a military).
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/02/2010 11:11 Comments ||
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#13
#12 has the right idea. disable the propeller. let 'em float around a bit. they are landlubbers anyway.
SHIP OF TOOLS!
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
06/02/2010 11:30 Comments ||
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#14
Disable them and let the Turk navy come tow them away.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/02/2010 12:21 Comments ||
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#16
I'm not superstitious, but in the same way it is bad luck to name ships after famous tank battles (ala Kursk), you are tempting Fate to name a ship after someone too stupid to get out of the way of heavy machinery.
#17
Does anybody know how the currents flow in the eastern Mediterranean? If they flow offshore from Israel, just disable the screws and rudder. Let the MV Pancake drift all the way to Gibraltar.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/02/2010 17:18 Comments ||
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#18
The Med has almost no currents or tides. The prevailing winds will blow it toward Gaza or Egypt.
they will be considered as truth by the entire world of leftists, terrorist syps and cowards seeking to ingratiate themselves with what they expect will be their Islamist overlords
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/02/2010 6:00 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Five Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza on Tuesday as militants launched rockets and a rare cross-border raid after a deadly Israeli assault on an aid convoy.
Three of the five were killed by an Israeli strike in the north of the Hamas-run territory, according to Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza emergency services.
The Israeli military said it had carried out an air strike in the area about an hour after two rockets were fired from Gaza. There were no reports of any casualties or damage from the makeshift projectiles.
Israeli troops had earlier shot dead two Palestinian gunmen who had snuck across the border in the southern part of the territory, according to a military spokeswoman.
"There was an exchange of fire in which they were killed," she said, adding that no Israelis were wounded.
Witnesses on the Gaza side of the border said the exchange of fire was followed by Israeli shelling, and an AFP photographer saw an Israeli helicopter firing missiles.
There was no immediate report of casualties from the Palestinian side as ambulances were not able to enter the area.
The Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after a similar raid less than two weeks ago in which two teenagers were shot dead after breaching the border fence in the same area.
Gaza's Hamas rulers have tried to preserve calm since the end of Israel's devastating assault on the strip in January 2009, but smaller militant groups still occasionally fire rockets and trade fire with Israeli troops.
It was unclear if the latest attacks were linked to Monday's Israeli maritime raid on an International aid convoy bound for Gaza in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, letting Palestinians cross until further notice amid a storm of international criticism of Israel's blockade of the enclave, officials in Egypt and Gaza said.
The move, urged by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against whom the embargo has been directed, prompted dozens of people to race to the crossing point in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, though the gates appeared still to be closed.
It is the only point on Gaza's borders that is not fully controlled by Israel. Cairo, coordinating with Israel, has opened it only sparingly since Hamas Islamists, who are allied to Egypt's opposition, seized control of Gaza three years ago.
A permanent opening of the crossing, which lies above a stretch of desert frontier riddled by hundreds of smuggling tunnels, would be a major boost for Hamas and a blow to efforts by Israel and its Western allies to cripple the Islamists.
The Interior Ministry run by Hamas since it seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in June 2007 said in a statement: "Rafah crossing is open every day from 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) to 7 p.m." Since Hamas took over, Egypt has opened the crossing only sporadically and with restrictions.
An Egyptian security source told Reuters: "Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to allow humanitarian and medical aid to enter the Strip.
"The border will remain open for an unlimited time," the source said, letting Palestinians enter and leave Egypt.
Aid convoys, to which Egypt has in the past allowed only limited access, would be allowed to use the crossing, subject to following Cairo's limitation that only food and medical supplies be transported.
"Hard materials" -- apparently including concrete and steel which Gazans want to repair damage from last year's Israeli offensive -- would have to go via Israel, the Egyptian source said. Israel has made clear since it halted a Turkish-backed aid convoy at sea on Monday that it will not ease its embargo.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned acts that caused the deaths of civilians during an Israeli operation against an aid flotilla heading for Gaza and called for an impartial investigation.
In a carefully crafted formal statement adopted after more than 10 hours of closed-door negotiations and which quickly gave rise to conflicting interpretations, the council requested the immediate release of ships and civilians held by Israel.
Israeli marines on Monday stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, a Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas Islamists and blockaded by Israel, and detained some 700 people aboard.
The incident, in which the Israeli military said at least nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed, sparked widespread condemnation.
Israel, meanwhile, said it has detained 480 pro-Palestinian activists captured in its deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and will expel 48 others, public radio reported Tuesday.
Those detained were being held at the southern Israeli prison of Ashdod, while the other 48 were being taken to Ben Gurion international airport to be sent back to their home countries, said the report.
Israeli officials would question the detainees before deciding whether to free them or prosecute them.
Another 45 activists, most of them Turkish, were being treated in various hospitals.
The Security Council 24-line statement, read to the 15-nation council by its president, Ambassador Claude Heller of Mexico, said the body "deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza."
"The Council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least 10 civilians and many wounded," it added. Council statements carry less weight than resolutions, but unlike them have to be unanimous.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Israel, facing mounting international outrage at its raid on an aid convoy sailing to Gaza, said on Tuesday that it would expel all activists seized on the ships and dropped threats to prosecute some of them.
Israel had said it would deport 682 activists from over 35 countries, seized during the assault in which nine activists were killed on a Turkish vessel, but the police minister had said some might be prosecuted for assaulting Israeli marines.
Amid widespread anger at the Israeli action, the U.N. Security Council called for an impartial investigation of the deaths, and the Turkish prime minister demanded the immediate lifting of Israel's "inhumane" blockade of the Gaza Strip.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said later that all activists "would be deported immediately," and Israeli officials said they hoped to complete the operation in 48 hours.
The 700 activists detained when Israeli marines halted the six-ship convoy heading for the blockaded Palestinian enclave included Turks, Arabs, Americans, Asians and Europeans, among them two politicians and Swedish author Henning Mankell.
In Turkey, a visibly angry Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told parliamentary deputies: "Israel's behavior should definitely, definitely be punished."
"The time has come for the international community to say 'enough'," said Erdogan, who demanded the immediate lifting of "the inhumane embargo on Gaza."
Erdogan's Islamist views and overtures to Iran and Israeli enemies are blamed by many in Israel for souring ties between the Jewish state and Turkey, once its closest Muslim ally.
The bloodshed also put Netanyahu's tense ties with President Barack Obama under further strain. Netanyahu canceled talks with Obama to fly home from Canada to handle the crisis. Obama, who has revived Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations through U.S.-mediated indirect talks, said he wanted the full facts soon.
In a telephone call with Erdogan, Obama expressed his condolences for those killed in the raid, four of them Turks, and reiterated U.S. support for an impartial investigation "of the facts surrounding this tragedy," the White House said. He said it was important to find "better ways to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza without undermining Israel's security," the White House statement added.
"I think the situation from our perspective is very difficult and requires careful, thoughtful responses from all concerned," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington.
The United Nations called for an impartial investigation of the deaths of the nine people, four of them Turks.
The Israeli military said the deaths occurred when commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, the cruise ship on which most of the violence occurred, from helicopters and dinghies and opened fire in what Netanyahu said was self-defense.
The U.N. Security Council statement drew a sharp response from Israel, which said its foreign minister complained in a telephone call with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it was condemned unfairly for "defensive actions."
Cairo announced the opening of its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, which is ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt's main opposition. Hamas requested the opening. Cairo, coordinating with Israel, has rarely opened the border since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
While Israel grappled with world criticism, its navy said it was ready to intercept another aid vessel that organizers of the flotilla planned to send to the Gaza Strip next week.
Netanyahu convened his security cabinet to debate what Israeli critics called a botched raid, and ministers said the naval blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip would continue, despite condemnation from allies.
"The opening of a sea route to Gaza would pose a tremendous risk to the security of our citizens. Therefore we continue a policy of a naval blockade," Netanyahu told his ministers.
A series of arson attacks in southern Thailand has targeted electricity transformers, phone booths and cell phone relay towers, luring soldiers into a bombing ambush. Police Lt. Vichai Changsakul says the attacks occurred across five districts of Yala province from 4 am to 9.30 am on Tuesday morning.
Three soldiers were wounded, one losing a leg, when they arrived at one of the attack sites and a bomb was detonated, he said. Such a coordinated series of attacks had not happened for several months.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iranian troops were operating three kilometers (two miles) inside Iraqi territory on Tuesday amid clashes with Kurdish rebels in the Qandil Mountains near the border, a security official said.
The Iranian force crossed the border late on Monday after a series of clashes in recent days with rebels of Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), the Iraqi official added, requesting anonymity.
In recent weeks, Iran has repeatedly shelled suspected PJAK rear-bases in the border area. It has also carried out helicopter assaults across the frontier.
Last month, Iranian troops clashed with Iraqi border guards after mistaking them for rebel fighters. An Iraqi guard officer was captured but later released.
The PJAK is closely allied with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for self-rule in eastern Turkey since 1984 and is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.
The PKK also operates rear-bases in the Qandil Mountains and Turkey too has carried out cross-border military.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Iran is a f'ing menace. If we're not careful, we'll wake up one day waiting for the twelfth imam.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/02/2010 7:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Me thinks we should arm the PJAK to the teeth and provide them rockets capable of hitting Turkish cities.
That way the Turkish government can experience first hand just what the Israelis are going through.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
06/02/2010 11:27 Comments ||
Top||
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.
[Dawn] Two people, a prayer leader among them, were gunned down by unidentified attackers here on Monday night, police sources said.
[Dawn] Forty-three suspects, five of them from the Orakzai Agency, were arrested and arms were seized from them here on Monday. 
[Dawn] The Pakistan army declared victory Tuesday over the Taliban in one of their strongholds in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, saying the military operation in that region is finished.
[Geo News] Two suspected terrorists involved in Jinnah Hospital attack were arrested from Muridke, Geo News reported. 
BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Nine wanted persons and suspects were captured and an amount of munitions and weapons during search raids all over the province of Basra on Tuesday, a local police source said.
THE DELAYED Free Gaza Movement's cargo ship Rachel Corrie yesterday assumed a holding position in the eastern Mediterranean, poised to make a fresh attempt to reach Israeli-blockaded Gaza.
[Dawn] Five Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in Gaza on Tuesday as militants launched rockets and a rare cross-border raid after a deadly Israeli assault on an aid convoy.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, letting Palestinians cross until further notice amid a storm of international criticism of Israel's blockade of the enclave, officials in Egypt and Gaza said.
Israel, facing mounting international outrage at its raid on an aid convoy sailing to Gaza, said on Tuesday that it would expel all activists seized on the ships and dropped threats to prosecute some of them.
