[Pak Daily Times] Three Taliban leaders secretly met with Afghanistan's president two weeks ago in an effort to weaken the US-led coalition's most vicious enemy, a powerful al Qaeda linked network that straddles the border region with Pakistain.
Held in Kabul, the meeting included a wanted former Taliban governor and an imprisoned terrorist who were flown to the capital from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, according to a former Afghan official.
The talks were not directly linked to the Afghan government's efforts to broker a peace deal with the Taliban and find a political resolution to the insurgency. Rather, they were part of an effort to weaken the Haqqani network, the former official said over the weekend. A Western official confirmed that a meeting between President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai and Taliban figures had taken place, but did not know its full details or the names of all the participants.
Led by the ailing Jalaluddin Haqqani and controlled by his son, Sirajuddin, the network is thought to be responsible for most attacks against US troops in eastern Afghanistan and has been a key US terrorist target.
The network is linked to al Qaeda and is believed to be sheltering its second-in-command, Ayman al Zawahiri. Weakening the network would take the pressure off US forces and bolster Karzai's efforts to broker some kind of peace with the Taliban in portions of the country.
The Taliban leaders who met with Karzai are Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the governor of eastern Nangarhar province during the Taliban rule and the current head of the Taliban's Peshawar council, his deputy governor in the Taliban regime, Sedre Azam and Anwarul Haq Mujahed, a terrorist leader from eastern Afghanistan credited with helping Osama Bin Laden escape the US assault on Tora Bora in 2001, the former official said.
They spent two nights in the Afghan capital. Kabir is on the US most wanted list.
The men were brought by helicopter from Peshawar and driven into Kabul. Mujahed has been in Pak custody since June last year when he was picked up in a raid in Peshawar, where one of several Afghan Taliban shuras, or councils, is located.
They spent two nights at a heavily fortified hotel in the Afghan capital before returning to Peshawar by helicopter, where Mujahed was placed again in jug. The US earlier this month acknowledged facilitating some Taliban trips to Kabul but provided no specifics. The Pak military has not commented on such reports.
The former Afghan official, who asked not to be named because of his relationship with both the government and the Taliban, described Kabir and his associates as "midlevel" contacts because they have little, if any influence over the more powerful Quetta and Wazoo shuras. Those two shuras provide leadership for the majority of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and are overseen by Mullah Omar.
The Haqqani network straddles Pakistain's North Wazoo tribal area and the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost, Paktia, and Paktika. ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
The provinces' residents are mainly Pashtun, the majority ethnic group in Afghanistan that is the backbone of the Taliban. But in Afghanistan, where power and strength are measured by tribal influence, Washington and Kabul are seeking to capitalise on Kabir's position in eastern Afghanistan's powerful and dominant Zadran tribe. Both Kabir and Haqqani belong to the tribe.
Both Washington and Karzai want to try and sap some of Haqqani's tribal-based strength by bringing Kabir on board and dividing tribal loyalties, the Afghan official said.
Karzai has formed a 70-member High Peace Council in an effort to try to reconcile with the Taliban and find a political solution to the insurgency. The Taliban deny that any of their representatives have been involved in talks.
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11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Lawmakers in Somalia's parliament have approved Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as the country's new prime minister by a large majority.
Two-thirds of the politicians -- 297 of the 392 members -- endorsed Abdullahi, who was the president's nominee.
"We will move with full speed to do the people's business. I will very soon form an effective and dedicated cabinet that will put the Somali people first," Mohamed was quoted by Rooters as saying on Sunday.
Former Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke resigned following a dispute with Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Sharmarke said he resigned from his post as he was unable to work alongside the president.
"After seeing that the political turmoil between me and the president has caused security vulnerability, I have decided to resign to save the nation and give a chance to others," he said during a presser in late September.
Somalia has had no central government since a civil war erupted in 1991 -- leading to the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre.
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An estimated 60 percent to 70 percent of Yemen's adult males are thought to be qat users, which in effect means that they are high on the green leafy plant from 1 p.m. to early evening every day.
The military is no exception, and the security officials say that undermines discipline and renders soldiers unfit to perform combat duties for a big part of the day and night, weekends and especially holidays.
Many say things are done differently in Yemen and the United States should let the government fight al Qaeda in its own way. 'If left alone, we can deal with al Qaeda with sustained and patient police work,' said Abdul-Ghani al-Iryani, a political analyst from one of Yemen's most powerful families. 'The number of core al Qaeda gunnies is small, but when you send an army to pursue 15 of them, they tend to double their number before the army leaves.'
"And don't even think of wandering off by yourselves, O Americans, like that little unit of British SAS and MI6 johnnies. Just don't think of it."
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu for backing out of talks with acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas in a Paris summit.
There's no outrage like French outrage ...
During a telephone conversation 10 days ago, Sarkozy urged Netanyahu to extend a partial, temporary settlement freeze on the West Bank settlement construction, which was due to expire on September 26, Ha'aretz reported on Sunday.
The French leader brought the issue to the fore in an attempt to lay the groundwork for the resumption of direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Sarkozy then extended invitations to Abbas and Netanyahu to attend an October 21 summit in the French capital, but the Israeli premier backed at participating in the negotiations "at the last minute."
Meanwhile, European diplomats say Netanyahu's decision stirred the outrage of the French president, whose fury was quite evident during his conversation with the Israeli leader.
"Netanyahu realized that he would come under enormous pressure on the issue of the settlements and decided to cancel his participation to avoid that pressure," the diplomats said.
However, the Israeli Prime Minster's office has denied the reports, saying the telephone conversation between the two leaders was "a routine call between friends."
The fall-out comes as Tel Aviv continues to ignore international calls to extend the partial 10-month moratorium on the expansion of its occupation through settlement construction.
#2
Even better, he could offer for Israel to pay for one way tickets to France for those Paleos who were feeling oppressed. That is, unless France doesn't particularly want several thousand Paleos.
But to refuse them would show that the French hate Arabs.
#4
Is President Sarkozy angry because Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't taking marching orders, or because he's been blocked from displaying his importance by hosting yet another summit in Paris? The Brits have been mentioning his lack of height again, to which he is said to be terribly sensitive.
The French aircraft carrier which is set to play a key role in defending Britain over the next decade has broken down.
As President Nicolas Sarkozy prepares to use a London summit this week to announce that RAF jets will fly from the carrier Charles de Gaulle, his naval chiefs have told him that she is no longer seaworthy.
The Chicken of the Sea has never swum properly ...
I don't understand it. The French do so many technical things so beautifully... and so many beautiful things so beautifully, too.
'She is meant to be heading to Afghanistan but is instead in her home port with a faulty propulsion system,' said a French Navy source.
I'm very confused. Afghanistan is landlocked, therefore having no coastline toward which a ship of any real size could head.
That would be the Afghanistan Theater of Operations. Such fine points are lost to some elements of the press, and that is why they fail to make the reference.
After Britain's defence review last week, it looks certain that the UK and France will pool resources by each having one aircraft carrier towards the end of the decade.
But Britain will have to rely on the Charles de Gaulle till at least 2020 while the UK's new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is being built. This follows the scrapping of the Ark Royal and its Harrier jump jets.
The de Gaulle's captain, Hugues du Plessis d'Argentri, said the 16-year-old vessel was not as efficient as she used to be, despite a three-year refit. He said his ship's nuclear reactor would have to be given time to 'cool down' before vital repairs were carried out. And he warned that it might even be Christmas before the carrier could resume her mission to Afghanistan.
I thought she was going to the coast of Somalia as part of the pirate interdiction force. Do the French jets off the de Gaulle have the legs for combat support missions in Afghanistan?
That makes much more sense -- Somalia has a sea coast, suitable for water-going vehicles.
#2
WAFF > RADIO FREE EUROPE = MEDVEDEV VISIT TO KURILS STOKES JAPAN ROW.
POSTER = RUSS + JAPAN may still be technically at war becuz Japan deems the Russ-held Kurils/Kuriles as an integral part of its Northern Island of HOKKAIDO. i.e. EX-SOVIET, NOW RUSS MIL-OCCUPIED JAPAN???
#4
July 08, 2008
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has moved from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman so its warplanes can fly missions over Afghanistan, where attacks have been rising, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
The carrier was ordered to move so it could conduct potential airstrikes over Afghanistan by flying over Pakistani airspace.
If it had remained inside the Persian Gulf, that would not have been possible since U.S. planes do not fly through Iranian air corridors.
#5
Proof of God's sense of humor will be the French sending subcontracted Indian technicians to 'repair and fix' the French helicopter carriers sold to the Russians.
#9
In a couple years, Disney will have a larger fleet than the EU.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/01/2010 13:21 Comments ||
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#10
in her home port with a faulty propulsion system
We've lots of functioning propulsion systems here they could rent. Tow boats. And/or tug boats. They're nothing but (barely) floating propulsion systems.
#12
The De Gaulle is the prime example of a camel being a horse designed by committee : The French were having issues with large propeller design and so went with a single screw based on an older much smaller carrier design, instead of the 2 screws that the Navy was demanding. And did NOT design in the capability to add in a second screw when the propeller issues were resolved. As a result, the single screw is ALWAYS overtorqued moving the Pier, and snaps off on a regular basis. Also, the electrical systems were built NOT by the design team ship building firm, but by another French firm as a way to "spread the wealth" of French defense spending to other companies.
#13
If the Brits and French want an Aircraft carrier and they don't want a U.S. one, there is only one other country with a success in this area. Have the Japanese build you one at the Korean shipyards. They had some success in the late 1930s and early 1940s with building them.
(KUNA) -- Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to punish severely the perpetrators of the suicide kaboom which injured 32 people including 15 coppers at Taksim Square, central Istanbul, Sunday morning.
"We'll never tolerate those who threaten Turkey's peace, security and development," Erdogan, now on a visit to Mardin - a mainly Kurdish town southeast Turkey, said in a televised speech.
"Such terrorist acts will never hinder Turkey's quest for of peace, development and fraternity among all members of society," he underscored.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... President Abdullah Gul said the attack targeted a group of coppers who have been mobilized for the national holidays such as the Republic's Day celebrated on Friday.
"The attackers will fail to obstruct the nation's march towards friendship, peace, fraternity and development," Gul said.
A woman wearing an boom belt struck close to a number of police buses which were parking near the statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - the founder of modern Turkey, at Taksim Square.
Though no group grabbed credit for the attack against Turkey's business center, Turkish officials believe the attack bears the hallmarks of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) or Al-Qaeda since the two organizations targeted the city several times in the past.
The attack took place two months ahead of expiry of the unilateral ceasefire announced previously by the PKK .
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Tel Aviv has asked Israelis not to visit Turkey after Ankara put Israel's name back in The Red Book, a security document which lists the country's "enemies."
"Our citizens have nothing to do in Turkey," Israeli Minister of Tourism Stas Misezhnikov said on Sunday, AFP reported.
Saturday reports said the Turkish National Security Council's (MGK) revised the dossier, citing Israeli "actions and policies" as the root of regional volatilities.
Turkey had grown wary of Israel's capability to knock the region off balance due to Tel Aviv's attempts to vilify Iran's nuclear program, the reports said.
This is while Iran says its nuclear program is solely aimed at peaceful purposes and the IAEA has in its 22 reports confirmed the non-diversion of nuclear material in the country.
Israel's aggression on the Paleostinians and the likelihood that it renews its deadly strikes against Leb had also concerned Ankara, the reports added.
Israel's political footwork "could lead to an arms race in the Middle East," MGK also warned, while calling Tel Aviv "a central threat to Turkey."
The comments come amid Israel's continued refusal to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Tel Aviv continues to remain silent on its widely-reported possession of hundreds of nuclear warheads.
Thousands, really. Actually, millions and billions. How dare the juices so threaten the universe!!!!11!!!1!
The modification of The Red Book also came after Israel delivered a record blow to bilateral relations in May by ordering a commando assault against the Freedom Flotilla -- a Turkish-backed aid convoy.
The attackers swarmed the fleet in international waters as it was taking relief supplies to the Gazoo Strip and killed nine Turkish muscle.
Turkey has called on Israel to offer an apology, acknowledge an international, impartial inquiry and its conclusion and compensate the survivors. Ankara has threatened to sever ties with Tel Aviv, should Israel fail to meet either of the demands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have, however, insisted that Tel Aviv will not apologize for the attack.
Misezhnikov further said, "The Turks are causing themselves damage with all sorts of statements... The less we go there perhaps the better they'll learn."
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#1
THAT'S the new Sunni leader in the gulf. Turkey. Still NATO? Responsive? Whats Joe on the ground say?
#2
P.S. Does that mean that Turkey has just declared Jews as spy's? How Nazi'-esque. Considering that recently the highest sold book was Mein Komph, followed in second by "the protocols of the elders of Zion". Thats a junket to something no one wants to talk about.
The SCOTUS is refusing to take up a constitutional challenge to provisions of the PATRIOT Act from a lawyer who was once falsely connected to deadly terrorist bombings in Spain.
The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from Brandon Mayfield, the Oregon lawyer who was arrested by federal agents after they mistakenly matched him to a partial fingerprint from the train bombings in Madrid in 2004.
The partial fingerprint didn't belong to Mayfield, who got an apology and $2 million from the federal government. The settlement also gave him standing to challenge parts of the PATRIOT Act.
The FBI cleared itself of any wrongdoing in an internal investigation, to no one's great surprise.
On September 26, 2007, two provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act were declared unconstitutional. Finding in Mayfield's favor, a federal judge ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), as amended by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment," which violates the Constitution of the United States.
Previously, a secret FISA court had to determine that a warrant was justified, but the PATRIOT Act nullified the 4th Amendment in such investigations, permitting invasive surveillance without probable cause or judicial approval in terrorism investigations, though since they have been used almost exclusively for non-terrorism related investigations.
The Federal government appealed that ruling to the Ninth Circuit, which blocked Mayfield's challenge to the PATRIOT Act. By turning down the appeal, the appeals court ruling remains in place.
At 15 years old, Omar Khadr kills American commando.
Omar gets caught and sent to Gitmo.
Omar blames father for making him do it.
Military court hands him 40-year sentence anyway.
Obama administration reduces it to 8 years.
Including time served.
Omar gets out in one more year.
Can someone please explain how the civilian court system is more appropriate?
The only ramification here is that from now on, kids will be fighting a lot more since they aren't on the hook for their actions.
#1
There might be a way around this. Obama is hypersensitive about issuing pardons. For the most part, he doesn't, out of fear that he will get dinged on it. So in this case, they're going to give a reduced sentence.
Unless the right starts calling it a pardon anyway. That might convince them to restore the original sentence.
ABU DHABI The UAE has voiced full support to the invitation by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, to the leaders of Iraqs political blocs for talks in Riyadh aimed at breaking the deadlock over forming a new government.
This is the initiative the Iraqi pols have already sworn off ...
The UAE Foreign Minister, Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in a statement, praised the Saudi Kings initiative for talks which are to take place under the umbrella of the Arab League after the Haj.
"Thanks, little brother."
"Sure thing big brother. You're not going to hit me again, are you?"
Shaikh Abdullah urged all Iraqi political parties to respond to the Saudi Kings initiative to save Iraq from the long-running political crisis. We appreciate the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the stability of Iraq and the region and do express our full support to it. We call on all Iraqi political parties to give the initiative their maximum interest for the good of the Iraqi people and the region, Shaikh Abdullah said.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is keen on establishing unity and dispelling differences. Therefore we hope the leaders of Iraqi parties would fully positively respond to the initiative of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
King Abdullahs Arab and international weight qualifies him to play the role the Kingdom abides by in its efforts to establish security and stability in the region and in all Arab countries in general, Shaikh Abdullah added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Iraqi politicians say an invitation by Soddy Arabia's King Abdullah for a proposed meeting in Riyadh to resolve disputes and form a new government comes "too late."
The Saudi king called on Iraqi leaders on Saturday to meet in Riyadh after the Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) holiday, due on November 16, "under the umbrella of the vaporous Arab League" to put an end to the country's prolonged political crisis over government formation, AFP reported.
"We ... assure you of our full readiness to help you and support you in whatever resolution you agree upon in order to restore security and peace to the land of Mesopotamia," he said in a statement.
Iraqi politicians, however, expressed doubts about the sincerity of the good-will move by Riyadh which Storied Baghdad has repeatedly accused of funding faceless myrmidons and bully boyz operating terror attacks against the Iraqis.
Nevertheless, former Premier Iyad Allawi's al-Iraqiya bloc comprising Sunni Arabs and secular Shiite MPs welcomed King abdullah's invitation.
But supportes of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who are mostly Islamist Shiites turned down the offer.
They said Iraqis themselves can agree on the formation of a national unity government, and that Iraqi political groups are on the verge of reaching such an agreement.
"This Saudi initiative is not positive, and that country does not have a role to play because it has not been neutral in recent years; it has always had a negative attitude toward [Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] and [his] State of Law [coalition]," said Sami al-Askari, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly.
"Had this invitation come from other countries, such as Jordan, Syria or even Turkey, it would have had a better chance of being well received," he added.
Iraqi Kurdish parties have not yet given an official response to King Abdullah's invitation, but some Kurdish politicians have adopted an approach similar to that of Maliki's followers, shrugging off the invitation.
From the Kurdish camp, politician Mahmoud Othman said King Abdullah's offer does not come at an appropriate time, and that accepting the offer will only delay the establishment of an Iraqi government and further complicate the situation.
Iraq is struggling with a political standoff between rival factions following the country's inconclusive March 7 general elections.
Allawi's al-Iraqiya secured a plurality of the votes and ended up first with 91 seats, followed by Maliki's State of Law with 89 -- both stopping shy of the 163 seats required for a majority in Iraq's 325-member parliament.
Early in October, a grand alliance of the State of Law coalition and the Shia-majority Iraqi National Alliance -- which became third in the May vote with 70 seats -- announced it would nominate Maliki for the premiership post.
The move cleared the way for Maliki's reappointment, although the coalition is still four seats away from the 163 quorum for a ruling majority.
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[An Nahar] U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon discussed with Prime Minister Saad Hariri the incident in Dahiyeh in which U.N. investigators were attacked by a group of women.
A statement from Hariri's office said the premier received Saturday evening a phone call from Ban that focused on the circumstances of the incident which took place at a gynecologist clinic in Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday.
It said both leaders stressed "Lebanon's commitment to respect the international legality in order to serve the proper conduct of the investigation and the imperatives of justice relating to the Special Tribunal investigating the assassination" of former PM Rafik Hariri.
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[An Nahar] You won't believe this, but...
State Minister for Administrative Development Mohammed Fneish has stressed that those who criticized Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's recent speech intended to "show that the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... has opponents" in Leb.
In an interview with the Akhbar al-Yaum news agency, Fneish said that "some parties are employing the murder of martyr premier Rafik Hariri for security and political ends."
"Politically, through pointing the finger at the Resistance, That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... acquitting Israel and tampering with the country's stability; and security-wise through enabling the Israeli, together with the American, of having the information they want," Hizbullah's minister added.
Fneish noted that both the country and the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... are being targeted, announcing that Hizbullah would confront any targeting "according to the situation and in a manner that would protect the country and the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... and prevent violations."
"How, and by what means, that would be decided according to circumstances and developments."
Commenting on Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel's call for Hizbullah to abide by the democratic system, Fneish described his remarks as "insults and accusations," noting that they have no objective or logical basis.
Asked about the ongoing Syrian-Iranian-Saudi contacts, he stressed that "Arab contacts have never stopped, but the problem lies in the obstructive U.S. role."
"Every time positive indications loom on the horizon, we start to notice U.S. media and political interventions, such as the visit of Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman to Leb."
"That was aimed at preventing the Lebanese from reaching an understanding," he added.
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[Arab News] A state-run Syrian newspaper has dismissed US accusations that Syria is undermining Leb's illusory sovereignty, calling the claims "irresponsible."
Tishrin newspaper said Sunday the accusations reflect a "pure Israeli will" and that US policies lack credibility.
In statements made to news hounds at the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society this week, US Ambassador Susan Rice singled out Syria and said it displayed a "flagrant disregard" for Leb's illusory sovereignty and political independence.
She accused Syria of providing weapons to Hezbullies in Leb and other militias in violation of a UN. resolution.
Tishrin said the US accusations were in "full harmony" with Israel's regional policies.
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[Iran Press TV] A top official at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) says the Bushehr nuclear power plant in south of the country has remained unaffected by the Stuxnet computer worm.
"The industrial systems at the Bushehr nuclear power station are not directly linked to the power plant's network," AEOI deputy chief Mohammad Ahmadian said Sunday.
He added that many of the industrial software and operating systems at the facility are not Windows-based and have therefore been unaffected by the Stuxnet worm.
He said accessing the facility's computer and communications systems requires special permissions and before any hardware is connected to the system it is inspected.
"In the case of the general systems that are connected to the Internet, virus protection software can be used to block unauthorized access," ISNA quoted Ahmadian as saying.
"Excellent and safe software have been developed in the country and our colleagues at the AEOI are using them," he added.
Ahmadian went on to suggest that Tehran-Moscow can continue cooperation on the construction of power plants in the future.
"Currently our priority is to finish work on the Bushehr power plant. If work on the power plant is finished well, and it appears that the Russians are intent on it, naturally we will consider all options including cooperation with the Russians for [the construction] of other [power plant] units."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmmmm... So virus protection software ... excuse me ... Iranian virus protection software stops the Stuxnet worm?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/01/2010 6:23 Comments ||
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#2
I get your implication Bobby, but it's simpler than that, they Lie.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/01/2010 9:35 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Senior Iranian politician Alaeddin Boroujerdi says the nuclear arsenals of international powers and Israel are a great threat for global society.
"Iran considers the existence of even one nuclear weapon a great threat for the international community and believes in a world free of nuclear weapons," the head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) said on Sunday.
In his meeting with Head of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Senate Foreign Affairs Commission Jean Claude Mokeni, Boroujerdi referred to Iran's progress in different fields despite sanctions and political pressure, saying such progress has provided the grounds for the expansion of ties between Tehran and African nations.
The UN Security Council adopted the fourth round of sanctions against Tehran in June under intense pressure from the US, which claims Iran is pursuing military nuclear program.
Shortly after the adoption of the anti-Iran UN resolution, the US, which possesses and has used nuclear weapons in the past, in a politically-motivated move imposed additional sanctions against the Islamic Theocratic Republic, which does not possess nuclear weapons nor seeks to develop such weapons.
The US then pressured Japan, Canada, and Australia to impose similar unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Theocratic Republic, targeting investments in the country's energy-related industries.
Iran says that as a member of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has a right to use the peaceful applications of nuclear energy for electricity generation and medical research.
Iranian officials maintain that sanctions and international pressure provide Iran with more opportunities for progress, and help the country achieve self-sufficiency in the banking and energy sectors.
"Iran is ready to expand its relations with African countries based on mutual respect and common interests," Fars News Agency quoted Boroujerdi as saying
He added that the expansion of all-out relations with African countries is among the top priorities of the Islamic Theocratic Republic's foreign policy.
Mokeni described Tehran's independent policies in the international arena as a factor in the empowerment of weaker countries and said, "The Democratic Republic of the Congo considers Iran's support and help necessary for its development."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Almost sounds as if their own nuclear program hasn't worked out as expected.
#2
The Western world has lost far fewer citizens to war in the 65 years since they became nuclear-armed than in the previous 65 years. In fact, I think the same can be said of the Russians, and even the Chinese (if you don't start their clock until they were nuclear-armed.) Can the same trend apply to irrational nations?
[An Nahar] Hizbullah deputy chief sheikh Naim Qassem ... Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies... said Hizbullah is against the Special Tribunal for Leb because it is confident of its innocence.
"Hizbullah is against the International Tribunal because it is absolutely confident that it is not responsible for the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri," Qassem told the Qatari newspaper al-Watan.
Describing the STL as "politicized," Qassem said the Court has "gone beyond its target of finding the truth."
He accused the STL of seeking to "settle scores" instead.
Qassem said Hizbullah members will not hand themselves over to the Tribunal.
He called on Prime Minister Saad Hariri to find a clear-cut solution to the STL crisis and exert efforts to avoid strife.
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In January, police detained more than 120 al-Qaida suspects in raids mostly in east and central Anatolia. Then last week, police arrested maths student Abdulkadir Kucuk from a university in the western city of Izmir who was in contact with a Turkish militant described as the head of al-Qaida's Aegean cell and who is now fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mr. Kucuk was trained in bomb-making and writing computer programs to jam drone flight signals.
In a follow up operation this week police in Istanbul rounded up a dozen more.
A senior Turkish security official told Reuters that all the Turks who have joined al-Qaida's ranks in Afghanistan-Pakistan belong to one group. He went on to name its chief as well as a commander, Zekeriya, whom Kucuk was caught e-mailing. "Their leader is named Ebuzer, the leader of all Turks in al-Qaida. Zekeriya is another high-ranking leader of Turks there," he said.
The Washington-based Jamestown Foundation identifies Ebuzer as Serdar Erbashi, a veteran of the second Chechen war, who had headed al-Qaida's cell in Ankara.
Apparently the Turkish group is called Taifatul Mansura, a phrase from the Koran translated as "Assembly of the Victorious". They have been reduced by drone missiles and splitters, came from Ittehad-e-Islami (Islamic Jihad Union), which came from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, connected to Al Qaeda.
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.
