Northern Afghanistan seems to be getting more out of control... this from The Hindu:
The Taliban has stoned to the death a couple in northern Afghanistan over charges of adultery, according to a provincial Afghan official. Where's HRW?
The Governor of the Kunduz province said on Monday a man and woman were publicly killed over an alleged love affair. "The two were stoned to death in a bazaar of Dasht-e Archi district on the accusation of committing the act of adultery," said Mohammad Omar. They have to provide some kind of entertainment since they ban everything else.
Last week, Islamist militants publicly flogged and killed a woman, accused of adultery, in the Badhgis province in northwestern Afghanistan, said officials. No HRW there either?
These killings in Kunduz, if confirmed, would be the first of their kind by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, where the militant group has comparatively lower influence than in the south. The stoning follows last week's call by a section of clerics for the imposition of a strict code of Islamic law that has frequently awarded capital punishment. Paging Mr. Dostum to the black courtesy phone, Mr. Dostum ...
Afghan authorities say the Taliban had arrested the couple following complaints by their parents, as the two were to be married to separate individuals. The Taliban, during their rule of Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, is known to have imposed draconian punishments on people who did not subscribe to its strict code of social behaviour.
A recent study by the United Nations has held the Taliban responsible for 76 per cent of Afghan civilian deaths, estimated at 1271, which have surged in the first half of 2010. Coming from the UN, that is pretty important. Doubt if it will get much play in the US.
#1
I heard on the radio that the woman died (of course, she was probably buried up to her neck according to custom), and that the man survived (they probably buried him up to his waist according to custom). So the Taliban shot him.
#3
Paging Mr. Dostum to the black courtesy phone, Mr. Dostum ...
General Dostum would have us out of Afghanistan in short order. He is a brutally effective fearless warrior and leader who mounts up, charges into the fray, leading by example. Brutality is the key to defeating these vermin. Dostum is the man we need right now. Unfortunately our current administratin will shun the warrior and stick with Karzai the crook and drug dealer.
[Tolo News] Top Afghan government officials in northern Afghanistan remarked that the Taliban are broadening their influence in the northern parts of the country
"This is the new policy of the Taliban: to shift their people from the south to the north, to show they exist everywhere," said Faryab Governor, Abdul Haq Shafaq.
On the latest advancements in the north by the Taliban; provincial officials acknowledged that the Taliban has taken control of six villages in Qaisar district of northern Faryab province.
The Taliban raided Qaisar district of Faryab province and six villages in the Khawaja Katni region collapsed to their control, provincial Police Chief, Gen. Khalil Andarabi told TOLOnews.
t has been more than a week that the Taliban have full control over the sixth newly occupied villages in northern Afghanistan, officials said.
Foreign troops and Afghan security forces withdrew from the villages avoiding civilian deaths and material damages in the residences.
Meanwhile, provincial officials said the Taliban assaulted a police post in Kohestanat, a district in northern Sar-e Pul proivince and after facing resistance they retreated the area.
In the past year, security in northern Afghanistan has deteriorated rapidly as insurgents have seized new territory in provinces such as Kunduz and Baghlan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] The United States congress has expressed concern about widespread corruption in Afghanistan.
Senator John I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry, one of the strongest backers of the US strategy in Afghanistan, said the United States Congress is growing increasingly concerned about corruption in Afghanistan and that he plans to raise the issue directly with the Afghan president, Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai during a visit to Kabul this week.
The strongest message President Karzai could send is one that elevates the credibility of his government, and that he is to be viewed as a genuine reformer," Kerry said in an interview with Washington Post..
Right now, he is not, and we have to be concerned about this, he added.
The US senator's comments are revealed at a time when a series of independent reports have documented graft and bribery at every level in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption, has denied reports based on the increase of administrative corruption in the country.
"Administrative corruption exists in Afghanistan's government institutions in a considerable extent, but corruption has decreased to some extent as well," Mohammad Yasin Osmani, head of Afghanistan's High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption, told TOLOnews.
"Some reforms are brought to the government institutions that have reduced corruption to a large extent," he added.
Senior US administration officials have been especially concerned about Karzai's move earlier this month to assert control over US-backed investigations into high-level government corruption.
Karzai accused the Major Crimes Task Force and Special Investigative Unit of operating outside the Afghan constitution and violating the civil rights of some of the several dozens of officials they have targeted, and said he would issue a decree outlining new regulations for the bodies.
President Barack B.O. Obama raised the corruption issue during an hour-long video conference with Karzai on Friday, in which issues such as civilian protection during the battle and the basic services delivery to Afghans were also discussed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Sure, but where do they park their/their sugar mommies' yachts?
[Dawn] General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan, held out the prospect on Sunday of eventual reconciliation with the Taliban, including negotiations with leaders with blood on their hands.
"It doesn't mean that (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar is about to stroll down main street in Kabul anytime soon and raise his hand and swear an oath on the constitution of Afghanistan," Petraeus said in an interview.
But, he told NBC's "Meet the Press," there is "every possibility, I think, that there can be low- and mid-level reintegration and indeed some fracturing of the senior leadership that could be really defined as reconciliation."Petraeus, who took command in Kabul following the sacking of his predecessor General Stanley McChrystal, famously exploited rifts within Iraq's Sunni insurgency to turn around a losing US-led war there.
He now has less than a year to show results in Afghanistan where what he described as a "Pashtun insurgency" operating from sanctuaries in Pakistan has exposed the weakness of the government in Kabul and the NATO-led force backing it.
Petraeus drew attention to vulnerabilities in the insurgency, noting it was "not some kind of monolithic Taliban enemy" but rather a syndicate of insurgent groups that are not subservient to each other.
These include the Afghan Taliban in the south, the Haqqani network in the east, the Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the Pakistani Taliban, and smaller numbers of Al-Qaeda and Uzbek fighters.
"What is interesting is that the Taliban leads from the rear, as we would say. The Taliban leads from Pakistan," the general said. "And by the way, the rank and file is just catching on to this."" We actually see discussions among them, chatter among them, conversation, wondering where their senior leaders are, and wondering why Mullah Omar hasn't set foot back in Afghanistan or even been heard from now in months and months and months.""But the senior leaders don't come in and share hardship and risk with their troopers on the ground, they send messages. They do it by cell phone, or what have you, and that is actually going to be a problem for them."Citing the case of a pregnant woman who was flogged and then killed, Petraeus suggested the Taliban's brutal treatment of civilians was also hurting it.
"What they have done is really quite egregious, particularly in the context of the religion and in the context of the normal codes of conduct."Petraeus acknowledged, however, the daunting obstacles facing the NATO-led mission -- insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan, weak government in Kabul and an intimidated populace that will shift allegiances to survive.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Honorable surrender and get me the -phuech outta there withdrawl guidance from Barry no doubt. One must wonder if General McChrystal saw this one coming.
#2
This could be done in a way to match the standard Kit Carson Scouts recruitment : turn low-level Taliban on the leadership, and make regional agreements. It has worked all over the world, most recently as the Sons of Iraq program proved -- but with Obambi as President, I don't think that is going to be the outcome.
#3
So the Taliban's punishment for enabling 9/11 will be political power in a new moderately islamofascistic Afghanistan rebuilt, subsidized and protected by Western taxpayers and military respectively. In other words they're getting protection money.
Why should a soon-to-be nuclear Iran fear the consequences of enabling attacks on the continental US?
With this step the US has given up on the very concept of deterrence. The (nuclear and conventional) security umbrella that is the foundation of America's alliances no longer exists.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The regrets of a cancer expert who assessed the only man ever convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie jetliner bombing have intensified the anger felt by victims' relatives over Scotland's decision to release the Libyan on compassionate grounds.
Professor Karol Sikora and other experts had said Abdel Baset al-Megrahi probably had only three months to live when he was freed from a Scottish jail last August and allowed to return home to Libya. But one year later, Al-Megrahi, who is being treated for prostate cancer, is still alive.
Sikora, one of three experts who assessed al-Megrahi's health for Libyan authorities, was quoted by Britain's Observer newspaper Sunday as saying he should have been more cautious about the chances of survival.
"If I could go back in time, I would have probably been more vague and tried to emphasize the statistical chances and not hard fact," Sikora was quoted as saying.
"In medicine we say 'Never say never and never say always,' because funny things happen. All you can do is give a statistical opinion," said Sikora, dean of the School of Medicine at Buckingham University, in central England. Which is why we don't like to say that a man has but three months unless we're pretty darned (as in, 99.9%) sure. You sir, were not that sure, yet you proffered an opinion regardless. Hate to ask this of a brethren doc, but what were you offered?
Scottish authorities deny that the opinions of Sikora and the other experts who advised Libya entered into the decision to release al-Megrahi, though families contend that the advice must have played a role. Did any of those 'authorities' lose their jobs yet? No?
"It's obvious the whole thing was flawed," said Frank Duggan, president of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, an advocacy group that represents some of the families of those killed.
This article starring:
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Fred, Al Arabiya attributes this to the AP, and this is the AP article almost word for word if not exactly. It looks like we'll have to go deeper than just going by the name of the link.
#2
"The doctors in the case have been dragged through the mud, when really it is very difficult to assess how long someone will survive," he said. "It was a difficult decision to make and was made in good faith."
Next time, wait until the body hits room temp. He had no mercy, neither should his victims. AFAIAC, putting him in jail instead of feet-first into the hopper of a wood chipper was the first mistake.
#3
Family member should not complain.
Raise $150,000.00, hire a professional international hitman and take care of your problems in an up close and personal manner.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2010 6:33 Comments ||
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#4
"If I could go back in time, I would have probably been more vague and tried to emphasize the statistical chances and not hard fact," Sikora was quoted as saying.
However, if he was just another NHS patient, they would have just pulled the plug without a hint of remorse. When he still did not have the proper dignity to pop off right away, the staff would have left him starve to death in the hallway.
[Ennahar] The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has recently undertaken a reorganization of its structures, after losing a significant number of number threes rulers who have either surrendered like Nancy-boys to authorities or were hunted down like the dogs they were killed by security forces in different operations in the fight against terrorism.
Information were provided by terrorists who got their mitts in the air surrendered in recent weeks, on the organizational level of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, by which a new structure called "El djound", reducing Katibat (groupe) into a single tool implementing the second stage, after being a center of decision making within the terrorist organization before. Cheez, that reads like a Office of Management and Budget report ...
Most of those repentants, who surrendered to authorities or those killed in anti-terrorism operations, were emirs (leaders). The organization has decided to reduce the Katibat into a second plan group in terms of importance within its structures, while they played a leading role since its inception.
For this, a new structure called "El Djound," a new organizational framework gathering two or more Katibat in order to limit the number of terrorists fleeing the organization, on the one hand, and secondly to reduce the importance of elements who repent or are killed by security forces, particularly after the experience of Katibat al Ansar, which was manhandled by security services for several years until the organisation decides to dissolve it completely.
In the central regions, stronghold of the terrorist organization and a center of activity most important since its inception in 1999, the organization decided to integrate the various Katibat and gather them into three main groups, named "El Djound" whose responsibilities will be divided between them to reactivate the terrorist activity.
In the Province of Tizi Ouzou, whose heights are the stronghold of the terrorist organization, both Katibat "Ennour" and "al Ansar" were merged into one group that now bears the name of "Ansar Al Djound" . This new group consists of different Katibat activating in the region.
In the province of Bouira, the different Katibat were merged into a group called "Dound El Itisam" which includes " Katibat El Farouk" and "Katibat El Houda".
In the eastern areas, activating groups on the axis of Jebel Labiod and Umm El Kemakem in the provinces of Tebessa and Khenchela, have been sent south, while in the western regions, the number of cells decreased significantly because of the refusal of the group « Houmat Dawa Salafia " to support the terrorist organization. Sounds like a liberal-arts university: every few years they centralize all the services, and a few years after that they decentralize all the centralized services ...
The terrorist organization, which is currently based in the Sahel region of Africa, where she was successful in recruiting a large number of militants in Mali and Mauritania, under the leadership of Yahia Djouadi, alias Yahia Abu Ammar, leader of the region of the south. The emir Abu Mosaâb Abdelouadoud has avoided making changes in the structures of this region for fear of the reactions of its emirs.
An important leader of the terrorist organization, who surrendered to security services a year ago, said that the family of Abdelmalek Droukdal, alias Abu Mosaâb Abdelouadoud, has started contacts with the security services to ensure the surrender to authorities of her son so that he can benefit from the provisions of national reconciliation, along with over sixty other elements.
Security services have asked the family of Droukdal that he should give concrete proof of his desire to surrender to the authorities, the sources said, adding that security services gave no importance to the issue before being surprised, a few days ago, by an audio from the emir of the organization which represents the first concrete evidence of his desire to invoke the provisions of reconciliation.
This article starring:
Abdelmalek Droukdal
Abu Mosaâb Abdelouadoud
The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Yahia Djouadi
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > AL QAEDA-LINKED MILITANTS ARE THREAT TO NILE + CENTRAL AFRICA [CONAF/African heartland].
#3
Most of us picked up on that during Gulf War II when the Army division had to ship through the Suez Canal after the former ally decided not to be. How many years back was that?
#5
The Islamists have been able to finagle political power, and weaken the military command enough to prevent a coup, but this does not mean that they know how to run a military.
Given the track record of such louts, those parts of the military now controlled by their cronies will either rapidly decline in effectiveness, or neutralize the crony, who will just think he is in charge.
#6
As per WAFF > POTUS BAMMER = WHITE HOUSE is repor denyinig giving any sort of "Ultimatum" to TURKEY???
* OTOH PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > IRAN, TAIJIKISTAN, + AFGHANISTAN: A DIPLOMACY OF BROTHERHOOD.
ETHNO-CULTURAL MAP OF "GREATER IRAN" CONCEPT = depicts Perso-Iranian ethic groups in the following Regional areas;
To wit,
* Large Part = circa 1/2 of GEORGIA [Jaaawga]
* Ditto ARMENIA
* Ditto UZBEKISTAN
* Ditto KYRGYSTAN
* Ditto KAZAKHISTAN
* Ditto PAKISTAN
* ALL OF AZERBAIJAN
* ALL OF AFGHANISTAN
* ALL OF TURKMENISTAN
* ALL OF TAIJIKISTAN
* LARGE AREA - 1/2? OF XINJIANG [aka WEST CHINA].
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [GlobalResearch.ca] US CREATING AN ARC OF CRISIS: THE DESTABILIZATION OF MIDDLE EAST + CENTRAL ASIA.
[Dawn] Al-Qaida's No. 2 offered his condolences for the nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists killed in a confrontation with Israeli commandos, but slammed the Turkish government for its support of Israel, in a message issued Sunday.
The 20-minute Arabic language audio message by Ayman al-Zawahri appeared on a militant website and is the latest effort by the terror network to expand its message to Muslims beyond the Arab world.
The Egyptian-born al-Zawahri called on the Turkish people to pressure their government to cut its military and economic ties with Israel and pull its troops out of Afghanistan where it is part of the NATO forces.
"The Turkish government shows sympathy with the Palestinians through statements or sending some relief aid, but actually it recognizes Israel, engages in trade, carries out military training and shares information with it," he said.
"The change will come when the Turkish people urge their government to stop cooperating with Israel ... or taking part in killing Muslims in Afghanistan," he added.
Turkey was once Israel's strongest ally in the Muslim world, with close military ties and a vigorous bilateral trade. In the wake of the 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza, however, ties between the two countries have chilled.
Turkey is demanding an apology from Israel for the May raid on an aid flotilla seeking to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip that left the activists dead.
"The Turkish government issues statements against Israel, but at the same time commits the same Jewish crimes but against the Muslim mujahedeen in Afghanistan, burning their houses, demolishing their villages and even assuming the leadership of the NATO there," al-Zawahri said.
In recent years, al-Qaida has started issuing statements addressing Muslims elsewhere in the world outside some of terror group's traditional areas of interest in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and the Arab world.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
TOPIX > TURKISH MINISTER GUL'S VISIT "A MESSAGE TO ARMENIA + RUSSIA", i.e. that Turkey will not give up or scale back its support for Muslim AZERBAIJAN; + IRAN CLAIMS VICTORY IN ARMENIA.
* SAME > US EMBASSY IN AZERBAIJAN DENIES WEAKNEING OF US INTERESTS IN CAUCASUS [POTUS Bammer = USA has a clear Strategy-Plan].
* SAME > [WSJ] ARIEL COHEN: RUSSIA PLEDGE TO DEFEND ARMENIA [Security guarantees + joint defense responsibilitys]PUTS AZERBAIJAN IN AN UNTENABLE SITUATION.
* SAME > RUSSIA: A COP FOR THE CAUCASUS.
* SAME > SECRET MEETING OF IRANIAN + TURKISH INTEL OFFICERS LEADS TO A NEW WEAPONS SUPPLY ROUTE, to Hezbollah in Lebanon + ultimately to Gaza-WB = PA's HAMAS.
* SAME > HAMAS, TEN OTHER PALEO MILITANT GROUPS/ORGANZ REJECT ANY FORM OF COMPROMISE WID ISRAEL.
In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010. No reason for the sale was mentioned. The Harvard Management Company manages Harvard University's endowment. Chickens.
Harvard Management Company stated in its 13-F Form that it sold 483,590 shares in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) for $30.5 million; 52,360 shares in NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) for $1.67 million; 102,940 shares in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) for $3.6 million; 32,400 shares in Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) for $1.1 million, and 80,000 Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) shares for $1.8 million.
Harvard Management Company's 13-F Form shows some interesting investments. Its two largest holdings, each worth $295 million, are in iShares ETFs, one on Chinese equities, and the other on emerging markets. Harvard also owns $181 million in a Brazilian ETF.
Some thoughts:
1) Concerns about Israel's existance in the future.
2) Liberal ideas of the need to "punish" Israel for defending itself.
3) Both.
I don't know the political makeup of those who run Harvard's investments. I suspect #1 myself because I know enough about Teva to be able to say it kicks butt, and has/is coming out with one-of-a-kind drugs.
In the event of war, the cowards want to be able to say, "PLEEEEEEase don't bomb Cambridge, see, we're not supporting Israel".
Tells me that this conflict is a virtual certainty. Perhaps this is the October Surprise Hillary Clinton was overheard referencing.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/16/2010 4:04 Comments ||
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#2
Well,
Harvard just got itself another enemy.
Thank you Harvard for stabbing Israel in the back at our moment of need.
I just hope that 10 years from now when Irani nuclear warheads rain on the US , the first warhead drops on Harvard.
Whether I will be around to watch this or not is another question.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2010 6:27 Comments ||
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#4
A link from Instapundit suggests that there may be less than meets the eye here: Teva, etc have been severely underperforming in the markets this year, so it makes sense to unload them.
Then again, it's Harvard, and they've made some spectacular mistakes with their endowment since the crash.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/16/2010 9:15 Comments ||
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#5
Then again, it's Harvard, and they've made some spectacular mistakes with their endowment since the crash.
Which indicates that the 'best and brightest' aren't.
#8
Actually, Harvard did NOT disinvest in Israel : Israel was rated in May as an Emerged Economy, and so certain Israeli stocks were sold. Harvard has a set amount of stock that must be invested in emerging economies, and once Israel emerged, some stock had to be sold. Harvard's stock investment council put the emerging markets requirement in place, so they are to blame.
#9
Actually, Harvard did NOT disinvest in Israel : Israel was rated in May as an Emerged Economy
Makes sense. Thanks for the update, Shieldwolf. I believe S Korea and Chile emerged similarly a fwe years back,a nd would likewise have forced automatic sell signals for multi-million $$ Emerging Market portfolios like HMC's
#3
The NYT would never run that picture. Too "divisive". But if they did the caption might read "Youths forced to take extreme measures to protest US meddling in the peaceful and garden-like Middle East".
#6
Daily Mail caption, "Almost 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001, after Muslim hijackers flew two passenger planes into the centre's Twin Towers."
NYT caption, "Cleaning up America for the Democratic party. We can now have 3000 new Muslim voters and possibly rewrite the Constitution."
Reports issued by the country's intelligence agencies have revealed that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Jandullah group and banned local militant outfits plan to target foreigners, embassies, Shia clerics and imambargahs in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Okara and Karachi, daily Aaj Kal learned on Sunday.
According to sources, the agencies have also warned of attacks on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders at the party's public meetings, district police lines, office of the divisional police officer (DPO). The TTP has tasked Abu Adil Mujahid to carry out the potential attacks, they added.
Another intelligence report revealed that extremists have trained a suicide bomber identified as Khayal Shah to carry out attacks on high-value targets and a vehicle has been rigged with 80 kilogrammes of explosives to be used in an attack. The report goes on to warn that a motorcycle owned by the Punjab Police Special Branch has also been stolen and it is feared that it might be used in a terrorist attack.
Another report revealed that a specific group of banned militant outfits have planned to carry out suicide attacks on the district police lines and the DPO's office in Okara. It went on to state that extremist might carry out target-killing incidents in Punjab to the target killing of MQM leader Raza Haider in Karachi.
The reports highlight the TTP's plans to carry out large-scale attacks in Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore and other big cities of Punjab during the month of Ramazan. Furthermore, the Punjab Home Department has issued a circular to the provincial inspector general, urging security to be beefed up in the province in light of the terrorists' reported plans of carrying out target killing in Punjab. After receiving the agencies' reports, police and other law enforcement agencies have directed security to be immediately put on red alert across the country to prevent extremists' from carrying out their nefarious designs.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
extremists have trained a suicide bomber identified as Khayal Shah to carry out attacks on high-value targets.
One would think Khayal would only be able to carry out one single successful attack. That must be some training program.
[Dawn] A policeman flung a shoe at Indian-administered Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at an independence day event Sunday, which saw thousands of Kashmiris in the streets protesting against Indian rule. It's old now. It's boring.
Security was tight across the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley for the annual national holiday, which separatists traditionally mark as a "black day".
At the main official function in a sports stadium in Srinagar, Abdullah had just unfurled the Indian national flag when the show was thrown.
The minister was not hit and the policeman, who had chanted "we want freedom", was quickly overpowered by bodyguards.
"Hurling a shoe is better than hurling a stone," Abdullah commented after the incident. Abdullah heads the National Conference, the main pro-India party in Kashmir.
Stone-throwing protesters have been defying almost daily curfews over the past two months and clashing with police in Srinagar and other towns in the valley.
The unrest has claimed 57 lives, most of them young men or teenagers killed in police firing.
On Friday and Saturday, security forces shot dead six protesters and bystanders in clashes with demonstrators.
One of the young men killed on Saturday was from the southern town of Anantnag, where thousands of residents -- men and women -- held night-long anti-India demonstrations, witnesses said.
Night protests were also held in Narabal, on the outskirts of Srinagar, where another protester was killed Saturday.
India's highest representative in Kashmir, state governor N.N. Vohra, has urged the security forces to "revisit their strategies and tactics of crowd control for securing maximum protection of human life".
The recent surge in anti-India protests began when a teenage student was killed by a police tear gas shell on June 11 in Srinagar.
In his Independence Day speech on Sunday, which he delivered to a half-empty stadium, Abdullah expressed his personal grief at the heavy death toll.
"My heart bleeds," he said. "The victims of the unfortunate events are my own brothers and sons and I am in gloom and bereavement."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Exclusive To Rantburg Photo - A policeman flung a shoe at Indian-administered Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at an independence day event Sunday
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said peace talks with neighbouring Pakistan would not succeed unless Islamabad stopped cross-border terrorism. Statement of fact. Not terribly likely, but...
In a speech delivered from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi on the countrys 64th Independence Day, Dr. Singh also called for an end to violent separatist protests in Kashmir and invited Maoist rebels for talks. Reasonable. Try to chill out the other areas, let Pakistan stew in its own poison.
India wanted peace with its neighbours and desired to resolve differences through dialogue, Dr. Singh said in his annual address from the heavilyguarded ramparts of the 17th century fort.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, we expect from them that they would not let their territory be used for acts of terrorism against India, Dr. Singh said. Fair warning.
We have been emphasizing this in all our discussions with the Pakistan government. If this is not done, we cannot progress far in our dialogue with Pakistan, he said. They could progress from 'jaw-jaw' to 'war-war'. It's not unheard of.
India and Pakistan fought three wars and have troubled relations since independence from British rule in 1947. "Troubled" is a charitable way of putting it.
India suspended a wideranging peace dialogue on issues such as border demarcation, water sharing and the disputed Kashmir region in 2008 following a terrorist attack on Mumbai that killed 166 people. A rather restrained reaction.
New Delhi blames the attack on Pakistanbased Islamic militant group LashkareTaiba and says the state InterServices Intelligence agency was also involved. But we give Pakistan aid instead. How is that working out?
But officials from both sides have been meeting over the past six months. The latest was a meeting of foreign ministers in Islamabad on July 15.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Informed sources within the National Alliance that traditionally included the Iraqi National Alliance [INA], led by Ammar al-Hakim, and the State of Law Coalition [SLC], led by Nuri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister whose term has expired, said that the Al-Dawa Party has unanimously decided to choose an alternative for Al-Maliki as a candidate to head the next government.
Al-Hakim's alliance stopped its negotiations with Al-Maliki's coalition over a week ago and demanded changing Al-Maliki and submitting a candidate who is acceptable by the components of the National Alliance, particularly the Al-Sadr Trend and the other blocs as a condition for resuming the talks. The sources said that the name suggested as an alternative for Al-Maliki has thus far not been decided, but hinted that the candidate "will exclusively be from the Al-Dawa Party" and that Al-Maliki "has shown leniency in this respect for the first time."
A prominent leader in the National Alliance who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity said that, "We are waiting for an official announcement on this subject before we announce our position on it." It is noteworthy that the Al-Sadr Trend, in particular, has announced its reservation on any alternative candidate from the Al-Dawa Party. It is not clear if it will accept this important concession by the Al-Dawa Party.
Meanwhile, the sources disclosed that "there is a desire by the independents within the SLC to find an alternative for Al-Maliki, however none are willing to present themselves as an alternative, since Al-Maliki received the majority of votes of his list, which gave the chance for many (about 25 members of his coalition) to win seats in the new parliament."
For his part, Amir al-Kinani, secretary general of the Ahrar bloc, which is affiliated with the Al-Sadr Trend, said that the SLC is "obliged to change Al-Maliki". In a statement to Asharq al-Awsat, he stressed that "Rejecting Al-Maliki is something final for the National Alliance." He added: "I think that time is over for the SLC, particularly since the dialogues of the INA and the Al-Iraqiya Bloc, led by Iyad Allawi, have reached serious and advance stages, therefore, it is not easy to change our position and our negotiations with Al-Iraqiya."
In the meantime, Sami Shurash, member of the Kurdish negotiation delegation in Baghdad, said that "the delegation has presented a plan for the leaders of the Iraqi political blocs with the aim of ending the crisis of forming the next government. The coalition of the Kurdish blocs is waiting for the reply of the leaders of these blocs on the proposal to start forming the political alliances that ensure the formation of a national partnership government and ridding the country of the suffocating crisis caused by the delay in forming the government."
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that the proposed plan "calls for the distribution of the executive branches of government on the prime minister, the premiership, and the presidency of the Political Council and National Security, in addition to some sovereign ministries."
He added: "In case this plan is accepted, which will divide the authority and will not keep it in the hands of one person, it would be possible to start decisive negotiations to form alliances between the Iraqi forces and blocs in a way that ensures the formation of a national partnership government that includes all parties without marginalization or exclusion."
Shurash said that "the acceptance of the leaders of the political blocs of the Kurdish plan would be the basis on which the coalition of the Kurdish blocs will decide its stand on the next political alliances."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has expressed support for Tehran's nuclear program, lauding Iran's strategic role in the region.
Stressing the importance of Iran's position as a regional power, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said that "Iran is a very important and influential country in the Muslim world and has a strategic role in the Organization of the Islamic Conference."
According to IRNA, Ihsanoglu made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting with Iran's new envoy to the organization, Hamidreza Dehqani.
During the meeting, Dehqani presented his credentials to the secretary general and emphasized on the OIC's important role in Iran's foreign policy.
The OIC had earlier voiced support for the Tehran declaration at the end of its 37th ministerial meeting in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, in May.
The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed a declaration in Tehran on May 17, according to which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference is an international organization with a permanent delegation to the United Nations which groups 57 member states, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, Southeast Asia, South Asia and South America.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution has offered Rls700mn (Roughly $70,000) in cash money to help secure the release of 'needy' inmates.
What - the Basij don't have their own legal fund?
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday donated the money to an institution tasked with helping prisoners make reparation or pay fines for their offences, read a statement posted on the Leader's website.
Under the Islamic law, reparation payment is demanded of a person for involuntary manslaughter or for doing harm or injury to other people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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A prominent pro-Israeli US journalist complains in a column that the US-led sanctions against Iran are not potent enough and Tehran is 'hardly isolated.'
Right-wing Washington columnist George Will writes in a Washington Post column from al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Sunday that US President Barack Obama's "wasted year of engaging Iran" last year led to sanctions that may never become "sufficiently potent."
Expressing alarm at growing fears in Israel for its existence, the widely-read Zionist journalist blames what he describes as "the 1979 revolution" (1978 Islamic Revolution) for what has become "the rise of Iran and militant Islam," emergence of Islamic resistance movements Hamas and Hezbollah, and "the multiplying threat of missile warfare" in the Middle East today.
Will goes on to describe incoming missiles as the main threat towards "eliminating Israel," admitting that the regime's anti-missile defense "cannot cope with Hamas's tens of thousands of rockets in Gaza and Hezbollah's up to 60,000 in southern Lebanon," which, he claims, "has tripled" since the 2006 Israeli aggression against the country that killed and injured thousands of mostly civilian Lebanese.
The article's final argument focuses on Iran and its civilian nuclear program, expressing concern that Iran regards Israel as "enemy of God," and denies the Holocaust.
"If Iran were to wipe the Zionist entity off the map," Will writes, "it would, (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu believes, achieve a regional dominance not seen since Alexander."
Netanyahu, according to the article's final argument, "does not say that Israel will, if necessary, act alone to prevent this. Or does he?"
Israel and the US have waged a major rhetorical campaign against Iran, threatening the country with military action for its refusal to abandon its right to a civilian nuclear program. Israel and its Western allies accuse the Islamic Republic of intending to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran, whose nuclear program is closely monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, has fiercely rejected the allegations, insisting on its rejection of nuclear weaponry as a matter of a religious principle as well as a state policy. It has repeatedly called for a global elimination of all nuclear weapons.
US and Israel, on the other hand, both possess nuclear warheads. Though Israel's possession of nuclear arms is undeclared, it is widely believed to have over 200 atomic warheads, refusing to submit to any authoritative inspection of its nuclear facilities.
In response to military threats by the US and Israel against its nuclear facilities, Iran insists that its response to any military move will be severe and immediate. Specifically, political and military leaders in Tehran have made clear that if the Israeli regime dares to take a military measure against Iran, it would soon cease to exist.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/16/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Couple of points to consider:
1) Israel has a long and proven record of having this nuclear arsenal as a deterrent without ever using it even during the worst wars against arabs when it looked like we were on the verge of loosing the war.
2) Ahmadi and the Humeinys TM repeatedly and frequently publicly declare that Israel should be anihilated.
3) Putting 1 and 2 together gets me to 3
3) I think in order to preserve our previous deterrent advantage we should now use some nukes on Iran. this will have the following advantages:
We will at the same time bolster the perception that when pushed against the wall and betrayed by our closest ally we will use our weapons.
Since we will only have one chance to attack the Mullahs, turning their nuclear sites into pools of melted radioactive glass will ensure that they cannot reinstate their program for the next few years. This will also serve as a good reminder to all other arab states in the neighbourhood that they dont realy want to start their own little "civilan nuclear energy programs".
Sounds horrible ? Well, thank Bambi and the Euro-Eunuchs for making this the only logical solution for Israel.
Do I sound selfish and cruel ??? - certainly, but I prefer this than the inevitable Irani warhead flattening Tel Aviv ( and after that some European and US cities).
When you give a Monkey a tomigan and teach him to shoot dont be surprised when the air around you gets full of hot lead. And if that happened the only reasonable solution is put a slug through the monkey's forhead.
Religeous fanatics and nuclear weapons creat a very explosive mixture.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
08/16/2010 6:58 Comments ||
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#2
A prominent pro-Israeli US journalist complains in a column that the US-led sanctions against Iran are not potent enough and Tehran is 'hardly isolated.'
The sanctions are a way of doing something without accomplishing anything. A PC way of dealing with a problem.
#4
If the next use of nukes is by a western country, it will legitimize their use as a weapon in conflict. This will ultimately redound to no one's benefit. Best to keep this genie in the bottle. Plenty can be accomplished with existing conventional weapons.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran's parliament (Majlis) speaker blasted a recent US call for talks with Iran on Afghanistan as "unacceptable" and deceitful.
Speaking at the first public session of the Majlis after a two-week summer break, Ali Larijani insisted that the fake US claim of interest in talks with Iran, following their tireless efforts to push through an anti-Iran sanctions resolution at the UN, amounts to yet another scandal for the Americans, Iran's Mehr news agency reports Sunday.
"You have committed crimes in Afghanistan," said Larijani of the US, expressing fierce opposition to what he described as "US and NATO aggression in Afghanistan, oppressing the Afghan people."
"We don't share a common path to negotiate with you," he emphasized.
The Speaker went on to commend a recent initiative by Iran's Majlis to pass a bill requiring the government to adopt retaliatory measures against countries participating in the US-backed sanctions against Iran.
The US should know, he said, that the Majlis will closely monitor their behavior, so they should not assume that by using a different tone they can "fade the extent of their betrayal against the Iranian nation."
In early August, US President Barack Obama proposed to hold talks with Iran on Afghanistan, claiming that since the two countries have "mutual interest" in fighting the Taliban, "Iran should be a part of that (the talks) and could be a constructive partner."
Posted by: Fred ||
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NOTE: I grabbed this from Sify, a news portal in India. The GZ Mosque controversy is being followed closely there, and a whole bunch of diplomatic signals are being sent that do not reflect well on the US Government's moral fibre...
A Hamas leader has insisted that American Muslims must construct the mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
"We have to build everywhere," said the New York Post quoted Mahmoud al-Zahar, a co-founder of Hamas and the organization's chief on the Gaza Strip, as saying. Now why would that be?
"In every area we have, [as] Muslim[s], we have to pray, and this mosque is the only site of prayer," he said on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on WABC.
"We have to build the mosque, as you are allowed to build the church and Israelis are building their holy places." I can think of all kinds of places where churches and synagogues are not well received.
New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer dismissed the endorsement.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization, and their views don't deserve any weight on anything," his spokesman said. The may not 'deserve' weight in your silly view of the universe, but they get it here on Earth. And you are playing right into their hands, Chuckie. At least he referred to Hamas as a terrorist organization, as opposed to many progressive Dhimmicrats who try and split the difference.
Zahar said Muslims around the world, including those who live in this country, are united in a common cause. (ANI) And what might that be, hmmmmmmm...?
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.
[Tolo News] The United States congress has expressed concern about widespread corruption in Afghanistan. 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Informed sources within the National Alliance that traditionally included the Iraqi National Alliance [INA], led by Ammar al-Hakim, and the State of Law Coalition [SLC], led by Nuri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister whose term has expired, said that the Al-Dawa Party has unanimously decided to choose an alternative for Al-Maliki as a candidate to head the next government.
