[Tolo News] A high-ranking Afghan official said Sunday that all underage conscripts would be removed out of Afghan cops over a year.
The Afghan government signed an agreement with the UN to stop the recruitment of children into its police forces and also to remove underage recruits within Afghan cops.
In a UN report last year Afghanistan was listed among one of the countries with child soldiers.
"This is not only the responsibility of the government but the entire community should work together for the protection of all children in Afghanistan," said Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul.
Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society special envoy to Afghanistan, called the agreement a big step toward a better future for Afghan children.
"We all know and we see it every day and unfortunately for the last thirty years, children in Afghanistan have been suffering," said de Mistura.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the UN's secretary general for children and conflict, called on the Afghan government to step up serious efforts in this regard.
"We truly welcome the political commitment of the government to enter into this action plan," she said.
After the Taliban regime was toppled, there were expectations that children's lives in Afghanistan would improve dramatically, but still children live the most difficult lives while a large number of them are killed and maimed as well as sexually abused.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Officials in the Ministry of Interior Affairs Sunday said security forces have begun to search for those responsible in stoning of a newly-married couple in northern Kunduz province.
A videotape obtained by media shows how a young couple was stoned to death in northern Afghanistan. Brutal punishment of the couple has caused anger and widespread concern among human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... organisations.
The young couple was given summary punishment over allegation of having an illegitimate affair.
The video shows the couple being stoned to death separately; the woman clad in Burqa and the man with his hands tied behind his back and his eyes covered with a handkerchief.
At first the woman is stoned and even rocks bigger than a fist are hurled at her and after a minute she sighs and falls in the pit. While she survives all the stones thrown at her, she is killed with gun shots fired from top.
After her, it is her husband's turn and he is also stoned to death in a much more cruel way.
She was 25 and married a young man named Khayyam based on mutual consent. Then they beat feet to Pakistain, but after returning they were caught on charges of having an illegitimate affair.
Two days after the video was released, Afghan cops launched an operation and took control of the village.
"We are trying to know who was behind the incident. Primary information indicated that he has decamped the area," Interior Ministry spokesperson, Zemarai Bashari told a news conference.
The village where the stoning took place is said to have been under the Taliban control for a long time.
Parts of the country under the control of the Taliban have hugely been the scene of such summary punishments. Afghan analysts accuse the government of having a lenient stance towards criminals.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Insurgents have never been trained and equipped within the Afghan territory, a bigwig in Ministry of Interior Affairs (MoI) said Sunday.
Officials in the MoI described the Friday suicide kaboom in Kabul the deadliest beturbanned goon attack in the whole past week.
Kabul suicide kaboom that targeted a busy supermarket on Friday left the entire members of a prominent Afghan family dead. Later on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... grabbed credit for the attack.
More than 90 terrorist attacks happened all across the country during the past week, MoI said.
Officials in Kabul have persistently denied the claim that beturbanned goon groups were trained and prepared for attacks in Afghanistan. Today once again Interior Ministry Spokesperson Zemarai Bashari emphasised that there were no training facilities where gunnies receive arms and training.
""There are no training centres of gunnies in Afghanistan,"" said Mr Bashari.
In the past several days different parts of the county were hit by a wave of bloody attacks by beturbanned goons.
At least 18 of the 24 civilians killed in Taliban-led attacks in the past week bit the dust on Friday attacks.
Following the Kabul suicide kaboom, which targeted a busy diplomatic area, Afghan cops are on high alert and there are more police patrols in Kabul.
Violence in the past week claimed lives of 100 people, including 30 coppers and more than 50 beturbanned goons.
The figures indicated that there has been a 50-percent rise in police corpse count and a significant downturn in jihad boys" fatalities, according to the MoI.
Kabul citizens, who have been more vulnerable in the beturbanned goon attacks, call on the government to bolster security efforts in all parts of the country including Kabul.
""We have lost lots of lives in the past three decades of war. We no longer want war in our country, we want peace,"" Karim a citizen in Kabul told TOLOnews.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Five Somali pirates captured during a raid on a hijacked fat merchantman in the Arabian Sea were brought Sunday to South Korea, where they could face life imprisonment, the coasties said.
The men were jugged as South Korean commandos raided the South Korean-operated Samho Jewelry earlier this month, a week after pirates seized the freighter and its 21 crew members. The commandos rescued all crew members -- eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 Myanmar citizens -- and killed eight Somali pirates.
None of the crew members was injured except for the South Korean captain, who was shot in the stomach by a pirate.
The captain, Seok Hae-gyun, was brought to South Korea on Saturday night and had surgery for his wounds.
On Sunday, the five suspected pirates arrived at Gimhae airport in southeastern South Korea and were placed in detention there. Saw video of them doing the perp walk. They did not look happy...
Coast guard Sherlocks began questioning the Somalis on charges they hijacked the ship, requested a ransom and attempted to kill the captain, coasties officer Hahm Un-sik said. Under South Korean law, the Somalis could be sentenced to up to life in prison if convicted, Hahm said.
The suspects told Sherlocks that the eight dead pirates played a key role in the hijacking and shot the captain, according to Yonhap news agency. Nope. Wudn't us. It was the dead guys. We was just along for the ride. Can you fly us back now?
The coasties couldn't immediately confirm the report but said it will quiz the suspects for 10 days before handing them over to South Korean prosecutors for an indictment. Piracy off the coast of Somalia -- which includes one of the world's busiest shipping lanes -- has flourished since the Horn of Africa nation's government collapsed in 1991.
The United States, Germany and the Netherlands have tried other Somali pirate suspects, but efforts to involve Africa in trying piracy cases are faltering and captured pirates frequently are released. In November, a judge in Kenya said that country did not have jurisdiction for attacks outside its waters.
UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon urged African leaders and the world on Sunday to do more to combat the growing threat of piracy.
"My special adviser on piracy has presented me with ways to end impunity and we will confer with African and other partners, including the Security Council, on how those may be implemented," he told an African Union summit in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. ...so we'll see you in about 2050.
At which point we won't advise you to hang 'em from the yardarm. This is how you know it's the right thing to do.
Ban's adviser, Jack Lang, told the UN Security Council last week that the world should set up a new court system and larger prisons to combat piracy. Lang proposed spending $25 million and providing jobs for young men in Somalia. Like what, Jack? AK repairman? Henna salesman? Selling Korans door to door? What a fuckin idiot...
South Korea's coasties says a trial in South Korea for the suspects has no legal hurdles. A UN convention says every country has the right to arrest pirates in international waters, and South Korea's criminal code stipulates that local authorities can punish foreigners who commit crimes against South Koreans even outside its territory, coasties officer Eum Jin-kyung said.
The names of the suspects weren't immediately available. Let's see, there's Mahmoud and Mahmoud and Mahmoud and Mahmoud and...
They wore hooded black winter jackets and their hands were tied with knotted ropes as they entered a coasties office for investigation under heavy security, a video broadcast by YTN television showed. Hi, Mom!
The Samho Jewelry and the freed crew members headed to Oman following their release. Oman, however, has reportedly delayed their port entry because of the dead bodies of the pirates on board. Yonhap, citing an unidentified Seoul official, reported Sunday that South Korea is considering feeding them to the sharks burying the bodies at sea to quicken the port entry.
Part of the investigation will focus on finding if the pirates belong to a group involved in previous hijackings of South Korean ships, senior coasties officer Kim Chung-gyu told a news conference.
In October, Somali pirates hijacked a South Korean-operated fishing boat with 43 sailors -- two South Korean, two Chinese and 39 Kenyans -- who have not been released. A month later, a supertanker also owned by Samho Shipping and its 24 crew were freed after seven months amid reports that a record ransom of up to $9.5 million had been paid to Somali pirates.
The South Korean raid occurred on the same day that Malaysia's navy successfully freed a chemical tanker and its 23 crew members from Somali pirates and apprehended seven pirates.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
South Korea, where they could face life imprisonment
The LATimes puts this exchange up front
Bahha Mohammed: "The fear is broken, we want freedom."
Bahha's friend: "And Islam, we need Islam."
Bahha: "Yes, but first freedom and the will of the people." Many Egyptians are scared that a Moslem Brotherhood takeover would destroy the tourism industry. Some may have noticed that the islamic kleptothugrocracy in Iran is no better than a non islamic one.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/31/2011 13:55 ||
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#2
Over the next few weeks the Muslim Brotherhood is going to get much more favorable treatment from the MSM than the Tea Party. Maybe we should counteract that by starting a rumor that a certain former governor of Alaska is an MB member.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/31/2011 17:00 Comments ||
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#3
Thus, of course, comes ...
To wit,
* FREEREPUBLIC > MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD WANTS WAR WITH ISRAEL, as per the comments of MB Leader Mohammed Ghanem, i.e. Egypt should stop giving gas to Israel + prep its Army for war agz same.
#4
Matt - the MSM has been giving them more favorable treatment for over a year now.
After all they have no problem calling Tea Party people 'teabaggers' but just call (or imply) a member of the brotherhood is a 'raghead' (or god-forbid a terrorist) and your be drawn and quartered.
Tunis, Tunisia -- In the mornings, barber Fadhi Ayari blasts recordings of Koranic verses from his shop's stereo. But it's just a habit, he explains as he turns down the volume. He says he rarely ventures to the mosque just across the street. He laughs uneasily at the prospect of the long-outlawed Islamist party Nahda, led by exiled sheik, Rachid Ghannouchi, rising to prominence in the new Tunisia. Ghannouchi arrived home Sunday after 22 years in exile in Britain to cheers from more than 1,000 supporters gathered at Tunis' international airport.
By all accounts, Tunisia's Islamists played little role in the uprising this month that toppled President Zine el Abidine ben Ali, who presented himself to the West as a bulwark against religious extremism. Secular and leftist political groups, along with labor activists, played a far greater role than mosques in a country where Islam, though central to life here, is often less an ideology than a revered artifact, like the distinctive blue doors on white buildings that characterize the traditional architecture.
But the revolution in Tunisia has opened the way for long-suppressed Islamic groups such as Nahda, which means renaissance, to emerge from hiding and begin pursuing their political agendas with an eye on elections scheduled to be held within six months. Nahda's leaders have quickly made their presence felt here.
So they'll jump in posing as 'moderate' reformers, and once they get power they'll reform the place to look like Iran. Or Beirut.
Or Algeria, during its difficult period.
Ghannouchi, 69, vowed in a recent television interview from London that he would prove to Tunisians that Nahda is a "moderate and democratic Islamic movement" that has helped Muslims embrace democracy. He praised the moderate Islamist ruling party in Turkey and its efforts to persuade the pious poor to embrace democracy while expanding the economy.
No Turkish attempts at persuasion for the pious Christians or the pious Jews, or the pious secularists in the style of Ataturk
."Our ideology espouses pluralism and moderation," Ghannouchi told Al Jazeera in the Jan. 22 interview.
Until it gains power.
His supporters correctly are sensitive to the perception that they are extremists. "We are Muslims, we want to live in peace, but those who are against us and think we will become like [Osama] bin Laden are wrong," says Amel Mahri, a teacher of French who greeted Ghannouchi at the airport.
But there are extreme groups waiting in the wings. The Tunisian Fighting Group, formed in 2000 and tied to Al Qaeda, was suspected of involvement in the 2001 assassination of anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud in Afghanistan and a plot to attack U.S., Algerian and Tunisian embassies in Rome later that year.
The Islamic Liberation Party and Salafist Jihad, both extremist groups that seek to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, held small demonstrations in Tunis after Ben Ali's ouster.
"We say that only Islam will bring peace and tranquility and freedom to our people, not secularism, not dictatorship, not any other secular ideology supported by the West," Osman Bakhach, a spokesman for the Islamic Liberation Party, told Iran's state-owned Press TV on Jan. 19.
Osman's brand of Islam, natch, with himself as grand vizier wearing a bejeweled turban...
And who is to say that someone even more radical won't take over? Mensheviks --> Bolsheviks, French Revolution --> Reign of Terror, Iranian democrats --> Ayatollas. That is the tradition, after all.
rural areas and rundown suburbs of Tunis such as Cite Ibn Khaldun or Cite Solidarite, far from the upscale shops, modern high-rises and gracious belle epoque boulevards at the city center, hardcore Islamists are a presence, waiting for a leader.
"I wish for the Islamists to take power from Ben Ali," says Fawzi, 53, who lives in Cite Solidarite. He declines to give his last name for fear of being identified as an Islamist. "God says in the Koran that Islam is the law of the land. One day all the people will know this."
But if the ouster of the autocratic Ben Ali has launched a potential race to win the political allegiances of Tunisians, Islamists may be far behind other opposition members who are better organized, not in exile and maintain strong ties to the population.
Ibn Khaldun resident Hassan Taif, 47, spent six grueling years in prison for being a member of the Nahda Party. But in prison and afterward, he drew closer to leftists, including Hamma Hammami, leader of the Tunisian Communist Workers Party, which though outlawed has long had a presence here instead of moving base abroad.
"He went on hunger strike," he said. "He didn't leave the country. I respect that."
Among many Tunisians, political Islam is distasteful. At the mere mention of the possibility of Ghannouchi becoming president, Kamel Jouini, 28, blurts out in English: "No! No! No!"
His friend Ramzy Jridi, 27, chimes in as they sit in a cafe near the main train station of the town of Hamam Lif, southeast of the capital. "If religion comes, the country will be divided in two."
"We are an Islamic country, but we're different from others," says Kareem Ferchichi, 35, another friend. "Sex, for example, is not a taboo here."
Sex isn't a taboo in Gaza, friend, that's why they have all those families of ten and twelve. It's how one treats the unmarried folk and especially the wimmins.
Many say with relief that the Islamist movements are not as strong as they were in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Ben Ali began a widespread crackdown. The young people who led this month's uprising are too conscientious to replace one dictatorship with another, they say. And the older generations that gave the revolution against Ben Ali their blessing did so in the name of freedom, not faith.
Elections will decide how much strength the Islamists have. But unlike elections in other Arab countries, the upcoming vote won't position a secular ruling party against a token opposition or Islamists. A wide variety of parties will compete, and Islamists are at a disadvantage.
"In completely fair, credible and transparent elections, would an Islamist candidate get some parliamentary seats?" says a Western diplomat in Tunis, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. "If he was charismatic and well-connected to the community, probably. I would argue that's a healthy thing."
Unless he's charismatic enough to make sure there aren't any more elections...
A crucial factor in the elections will be who manages to either provide economic solutions or convince the public they have answers.
"We want to play a positive role and gather the conditions for a democratic future," says Lourimi Ajmi, a leading member of the Nahda Party.
As a young Islamic activist discreetly distributing leaflets and holding underground meetings, Ajmi idolized Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who established the world's first modern theocracy. But he now calls experiments in Islamic rule in Iran, Sudan and Afghanistan dismal failures.
That's what he's saying today. If he could grab power, he might something very different.
"They were a dismal failure because they did it wrong. We'd do it right."
He says democracy and economic prosperity, not establishing Sharia law, are the best ways to advance the Islamic agenda.
The Islamic agenda doesn't include democracy, so sez the Quran.
"We want to create a Tunisian model close to the social and educational aspirations of our country," he says. "We believe that democracy is the shortest and most direct path to development. But our youth need a validation of their Islamic identity."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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"We believe that democracy is the shortest and most direct path to development."
[An Nahar] Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi, who returned home Sunday after more than 20 years in exile, said his movement would not field a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
"I myself will not run for the presidency... We have no intention of fielding a candidate in the upcoming presidential election," Ghannouchi told AFP in an interview after his return.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi has warned the anti-government protesters against defying curfew as people continue to stay out.
Anti-government protesters streamed the streets in the sixth day of demonstrations on Sunday despite the warnings and the presence of the army.
The armed forces have threatened a crackdown on anyone who refuses to obey the curfew imposed in major cities. The curfew has now been extended and is to be in place from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. local time.
Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak has reportedly visited an army military operations center to meet with top army commanders and troops at their headquarters.
Following the visit, the army has received orders to open fire on protesters in a bid to protect the Mubarak-run regime, according to the Mohammedan Brotherhood's website.
Military helicopters and US-made F-16 fighter jets made low passes on Sunday over Tahrir Square, which is one of the epicenters of the uprising, as the number of protesters keeps rising.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Different courts have proceeded with the release of those jugged during the recent riots experienced by the country earlier this year because of increases in some products of large consumption.
These people have been released provisionally pending the results of investigations by the departments concerned, with the exception of those jugged in flagrante delicto of fire, destruction and looting.
This is a step toward calming, decided by the Government in order to be able to control the situation and to absorb the anger of the street. Nearly 300 people will benefit from these measures out of a thousand people jugged in connection with disturbances recorded in different regions of the country after protests against rising prices of sugar and oil.
More than 700 people, mostly minors, were released initially, while others remained in jug until the release decision was taken recently.
The operation, according to our sources, was launched during last week in several provinces in eastern Algeria, like in Tizi Ouzou where 12 people were released, Constantine 24 people released and 17 in El Khroub in the same province.
This measure, our sources added, comes within the provisions made by the government that chose the policy of appeasement in order to control the situation after the recent unrest that rocked the country.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] Algeria's Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) opposition party held a protest in Bejaia on Saturday (January 29th), calling for "a radical change in the system", local and international press reported. "The protest gathered more than 10,000 people," AFP quoted organisers as saying.
A newly formed democratic forces group, led by the Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) said they plan a march in Algiers on February 12th. The group calls itself the National Co-ordination for Change and Democracy.
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[Ennahar] Algerian Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia reminded that no march will be permitted by the authorities in Algiers, in an interview Sunday with the French-language daily Liberté.
"The marches are banned in Algiers," he said ensuring that this does not apply only to protests from the opposition but to "all marches". January 22, a march of the RCD (Rally for Culture and Democracy, opposition) was prevented by police.
"If a Party from the presidential Alliance plans to hold a march tomorrow in Algiers, I can tell you as Minister of Interior, that it will be banned," he added.
The presidential Alliance, in power in Algeria, includes the National Liberation Front (FLN, Conservative), The National Democratic Rally (RND, Liberal) of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, and the Movement of Society for Peace (MSP, Islamist).
A march to demand the "departure of the regime" is scheduled on February 12 in Algiers at the invitation of the new National Coordination for Change and Democracy, which includes opposition movements and civil society organizations. This coordination was born Jan. 21 in the wake of riots in early January that killed five people and injured over 800.
The Minister explained that the ban on marches was justified by security reasons. "Algiers is a city of three million inhabitants. There are problems that can not be taken into account by the organizers of the marches," he said.
Street demonstrations are banned in Algeria since June 14, 2001 when a march in favor of Kabylia had turned into a riot which left eight dead and hundreds injured.
The Minister particularly mentioned the possible intervention of "elements that have nothing to do with the objective of the march who are there to create disorder". "There's always the problem of terrorism," he also stressed.
Since the suicide kaboom'>suicide kabooms that hit Algiers in April and December 2007, significant police reinforcements were deployed permanently at the entrances to the capital to avert a possible attack by armed Islamist groups.
Asked about the lifting of the state of emergency in force since February 1992, the minister said it "does not interfere with a number of activities."
It "has been set up to fight against terrorism. This plague is not completely eradicated," he said.
Asked whether Algeria was concerned that the popular revolt that brought down the Tunisian President Ben Ali be repeated in the region, Mr. Ould Kablia said: "the comparison with other contexts is not justified"
"In Algeria, there is a development (...) In both urban and rural areas, development projects are extremely important. Water is available everywhere. All indicators are positive: the school, housing, gas, schooling, and health care," he added.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill... on Sunday called on Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak to hold free and fair elections and said Washington was not considering a cutoff of aid to Cairo for now.
Appearing on a slew of US news programs, Clinton pressed Mubarak for sweeping reforms in response to unprecedented mass protests but urged an orderly democratic transition to avoid a result like that of Iran which she called a "faux democracy."
Clinton kept up the B.O. regime's delicate balancing act. It is trying to avoid abandoning Mubarak -- a key US strategic ally of 30 years -- while supporting protesters who seek broader rights and demand his ouster. But Washington has limited options to influence the situation.
"We want to see free and fair elections and we suspect that will be one of the outcomes of what is going on in Egypt right now," Clinton told NBC's "Meet the Press."
She also said on ABC's "This Week" that Mubarak's appointment on Saturday of intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as vice president marked the "bare beginning" of political reform, but insisted that much more needed to be done.
Clinton said the B.O. regime did not want to see a "void" in power in Egypt, which she hailed as an important US partner in Israeli-Paleostinian peacemaking and other matters. "I don't think anyone wants to see instability, chaos, increasing violence," she said. "We want to an orderly transition to a democratic government, to economic reform."
Clinton also held off on using the most tangible leverage the United States has with Mubarak when she said on ABC, "There is no discussion as of this time about cutting off aid," though she added "we always are looking and reviewing our aid."
The United States provides $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt, the vast majority of which is military assistance.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his government is "anxiously monitoring" the political unrest in Egypt. "Israel and Egypt have been at peace for more than three decades and our objective is to ensure that these ties be preserved. At this time, we must display responsibility, restraint and utmost prudence."
Egypt is only one of the two Arab countries which have signed peace treaties with Israel. The other is Jordan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Imagine being a dental assistant working for Hillary's dentist---having to polish the footprints from her teeth twice a week.
#3
I susppect it's too late for that, Hil, and if you're as smart as some say, you know it, too.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/31/2011 6:05 Comments ||
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#4
and if you're as smart as some say, you know it, too.
The problem is that there are different kinds of intelligence, Bobby. She had the kind that led to good grades at school, not at all the same as mastery of the subject.
#5
"We want to an orderly transition to a democratic government, to economic reform." What's she up to now? That would make a fine campaign slogan for a presidential candidate next year, seeing as the USA needs the same thing.
#6
What they'll GET is a disorderly transition to another Islamic hell-hole. Which undoubtedly makes the 20 million Princes in Saudiland a trifle nervous.
#7
What the transition will involve, from elsewhere on the Web "there's a fair chance that it includes mischief like promoting a Sharia state, inciting trouble through Hamas, supporting uprisings in other key Muslim nations, and egging on new, unwelcome disorders in a region that the stability of the world hinges on these days."
#8
The dilemma for the USA + POTUS BAMMER is whether the same will tolerate TIANNENMEN-STYLE, MILITARY-LED GOVT VIOLENT = BLOODY CRACKDOWNS on the street protestors in order to save from PRO-JIHAD RADIC ISLAMIST = MILTERR GROUPS WHOM WILL KNOWINGLY USE THE PROTESTS TO COVERTLY EMPOWER THEIR MOSTLY UNPOPULAR, ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE AGENDUMS, ESPEC ANY DEMANDS FOR POTENT POLITICAL/GOVT. POWER-SHARING E.G. HEZBOLLAH GOVT. IN LEBANON???
What is the Econ-troubled US' response iff ANTI-US, PRO-JIHAD ISLMAISTS GAIN POLITICAL-GOVT POWER. RIDING ON THE TAILS OF PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTORS???
NAZISM = COMMUNISM = "FREEDOM + DEMOCRACY", LIBERTE-EGALITE-FRATERNITE, "LAND + BREAD", etc. DON'Y YA KNOW!?
RADICAL ISLAM, SHARIA + SUPER-SHARIA, IS "FREEDOM + DEMOCRACY", ETC. IN THE ISLAMIST VIEW + THEIR PUBLIC ARGUMENTS, REMEMBER?
[Arab News] Top dissident Mohamed El-Baradei told a sea of angry protesters in Cairo on Sunday that they were beginning a new era after six days of a deadly revolt against geriatric President Hosni Mubarak.
Nobel peace laureate El-Baradei, mandated by Egyptian opposition groups including the banned Mohammedan Brotherhood to negotiate with Mubarak's government, hailed "a new Egypt in which every Egyptian lives in freedom and dignity."
"We are on the right path, our strength is in our numbers," El-Baradei said in his first address to the protest epicenter on Cairo's Tahrir Square. "I ask you to be patient, change is coming."
Six days of nationwide protests have shaken Egypt and left at least 125 people dead. The president has sacked the government, appointed a vice president and a new prime minister. But that has failed to quell the protests.
Parliament Speaker Fathi Surour on Sunday made another concession, saying the results of last year's fraud-tainted parliamentary elections would be revised.
Mubarak on Sunday met with army brass as warplanes in an apparent show of force flew over the downtown Cairo protest. State television said the president visited Egypt's central military command where he met with his newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman, the military intelligence chief; as well as with outgoing Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Anan.
The National Coalition for Change, which groups several opposition movements including the banned Mohammedan Brotherhood, charged El-Baradei with negotiating with the government.
Gangs of gunnies attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn Sunday, helping to free hundreds of Mohammedan Brotherhood members and thousands of other inmates as police vanished from the streets of Cairo and other cities. Among those who beat feet were members of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, some of whom made it back to the Gazoo Strip via smuggling tunnels.
Qatar-based satellite channel Al Jizz was ordered by the Information Ministry on Sunday to shut down its operations in the country, and later in the day its signal to some parts of the Middle East was cut.
The news channel said in a message on its broadcast that Egypt's satellite Nilesat had cut off its signal. That effectively took Al Jizz off the air for some Arab viewers, but alternative signals were still available.
Microsoft Soddy Arabia was forced to cancel an Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging Course, which was to be held for MS partners Monday in Riyadh. The Kingdom is dependent on Egypt's IT resources. From Web developers to data centers to call centers, Soddy Arabia makes heavy use of Egypt's low-cost Arabic-speaking technicians, either accessed over the Internet or as contracted professionals working at local firms.
A number of foreign governments said they would evacuate their nationals, while the United States authorized the departure of embassy families.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
LOL @ the image. It can be used for plenty of stories around here, including every story about any 'reform' passed by the last Congress or proposed by this administration.
Followup on the report of Kimmie's outing last month. Let's hope death seizes him real soon now.
A source in Musan, North Hamgyeong Province, relates that on a tour of Musan Mine at the beginning of December, those that saw his face report him confiding that "This visit to the Musan mine could be Kim Jong-il's last steps."
Flatly rejecting conjecture that Kim Jong-il's health had taken a turn for the better, the source said "His condition is said to very poor according to the people who witnessed him first hand on the inspection."
The witness said that throughout the visit to the mine his state of health was bad enough that he found it hard to walk freely. He frequently used a stick and was given a helping hand by an aide. His expression was severe and low, there was a green tinge to his countenance, and he looked like someone at death's door.
"The North Koreans who told us this said they couldn't say how long Kim Jong-il would live and that he said he wouldn't be able to visit the mine again," said the source.
The source reported people are predicting that "Hostility to the regime that killed so many North Koreans is driving Kim Jong-il to his own death." News of his physical demise is spreading and people are now talking up the prediction with confidence.
However, despite the rumor being widespread most people are still reacting without hope. "They don't care whether he lives for a long or short time. The big tiger may die but there's always its offspring, so to speak. North Koreans think that North Korea in the hands of the Kim family will always be hell," said the source.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
It's not a question of if, it's a question of how long. Heck, Boris Yeltsin lasted for years and years after he resigned.
A source in Hyesan, Yanggang Province reported on January 19th, "Rice has risen from 1,000 to 2,500 per kilogram through January. And the price of corn has shot up from 400 to 1,000."
"Following the floods last year, even the country's traditional rice producing regions saw a fall off in yield. Added to which the absence of international support because of the Yeonpyeong Island shelling has resulted in severe shortages across the board." Speculators have started accumulating rice and as a result the price skyrocketed in January.
"There are a growing number of families who can't cope with the unmanageable leap in the cost of rice and are selling their household possessions to pay for food," added the source. "If it carries on like this the food crisis could surpass in severity the "Arduous March" of the mid-nineties."
"Since Kim Jong-eun stepped forward the country has been steeped in economic disarray. Luck needs to follow a business and it seems that luck of this sort doesn't follow Kim Jong-eun. There is," the source went on, "a perception amongst the people of North Korea that although they have committed no crimes, a punishment has been cast down from the heavens to mitigate the sins of the arch criminal Kim Jong-il."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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The North Korean regime appears to have started a new reign of terror to consolidate the succession of leader Kim Jong-il's son Jong-un.
The South Korean government and a North Korean source on Wednesday said public executions more than tripled last year. And increasing numbers of North Koreans have been killed trying to cross the Apnok (or Yalu) or Duman (or Tumen) River after the regime gave a shoot-to-kill order. The party and military, meanwhile, are engulfed in a whirlwind of purges, observers believe.
A diplomatic source familiar with North Korean affairs Wednesday said there were 60 confirmed public executions in the North last year, more than triple the number of 2009. "Since last year, the regime has put a notice on bulletin boards warning that those who use Chinese-made mobile phones or illegally circulate dollars face public execution, the source said.
Another source familiar with North Korean affairs said, "It's rumored that Kim Jong-un has called for 'gunshots across the country.' Kim Jong-il did exactly the same thing when he took power."
Jang Se-yul of the North Korean People's Liberation Front, a group of former North Korean soldiers and officers who defected to South Korea, said, "In Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province alone last year, at least six people were executed publicly on charges of human trafficking and robbery. People are executed publicly for crimes that would have sent them to prison for just a few years in the past."
"The number of public executions had gradually dwindled in the North since the famine of the late 1990s," said International security ambassador Nam Joo-hong. "But since last year, the regime has apparently relied increasingly on public executions to tighten control in the aftermath of the botched currency reform and complaints about the hereditary succession."
Observers believe the regime has issued a shoot-to-kill order against defectors. According to a high-level source in the Changbai region in the Chinese province of Jilin, five North Koreans were shot dead and two others wounded by North Korean border guards on the Chinese side of the border after they crossed the Apnok River on Dec. 14.
And the military is being purged of unreliable elements. Quoting an internal North Korean source last Saturday, Free North Korea Radio, a shortwave broadcaster in the South, said the number of inmates has soared at a labor camp under the Ministry of People's Armed Forces in North Hamgyong Province. It said many of the inmates are former army generals who have been purged by Kim Jong-un.
The regime's determination to tighten control is also reflected in the Workers Party's new regulations, the first for 30 years. The regime recently added a new clause calling for all party members to abide by a new regulation requiring them "to oppose and fight against anti-socialist trends."
A South Korean intelligence official said the phrase refers to elements of capitalism that have flowed in from South Korea. "The regime has paved the way to publicly execute even people who watch South Korean soap operas or dress in South Korean style, branding them as anti-party elements," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Advanced Kremlinology 301...
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son and heir Jong-un is already being treated with the same level of protocol as his father. A senior South Korean government official last Friday said Kim Jong-un seems to have moved up to the same rank as his father. "The most conspicuous sign is that Kim Jong-un has started wearing a top-quality furry hat that only Kim Jong-il has been wearing so far," the official added. Their crown is a fuzzy hat?
Kim junior wore the same hat as his father in video clips showing Kim senior's so-called on-the-spot guidance trip to the Mansudae Art Studio in Pyongyang on Jan. 23 and 24. Attila had one, too, if I recall correctly...
A former senior North Korean official identified as Choi, who has defected to South Korea, said, "The hat was customized by a foreign master craftsman using top-quality otter fur. Wonder where they get the otters...
It's an unwritten rule that nobody else can wear such a hat, so if Kim Jong-un is also wearing one, it means he has now reached almost the same status as his father."
Unlike Kim senior, who started wearing the hat when the winter started in late October, Kim junior first donned it on Dec. 16, when he inspected a North Korean Army unit.
"It seems Kim Jong-un began establishing himself as the heir in mid-December after three-months of internal consolidation of his status following his first official appearance on Sept. 28 last year," a South Korean government source said,
Among Kim Jong-il's close aides, Kim Ki-nam, a secretary of the Workers Party, and Hyon Chol-hae and Ri Myong-su, senior staffers of the National Defense Commission, sometimes wear similar hats. "But if you look at them carefully, you'll see that their hats are industrial products and the quality is far inferior," a North Korean source said.
The government official said in recent days North Korean TV has repeatedly shown Kim Jong-un without his father in reports on his on-the-spot guidance tours, which was unimaginable only a few weeks ago.
"Every factory Kim Jong-un inspected alongside his father before his first official appearance has now put up a signboard announcing, 'This is a factory that Comrade Kim Jong-un inspected' on such-and-such a date," the official added. "All this shows that Kim Jong-un's status is being consolidated."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Wonder where they get the otters...
Kidnapped 'em from Japan.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/31/2011 9:48 Comments ||
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[Al Jazeera] China has blocked the word "Egypt'' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.
China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest.
A search for "Egypt'' on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying, "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown".
The service has more than 50 million users.
News on the Egypt protests has been limited to a few paragraphs and photos buried inside major news websites, but China Central Television had a report on its midday broadcast.
China's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment Saturday on the events in Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Pakistan has doubled its nuclear weapons stockpile over the past several years, increasing its arsenal to more than 100 deployed weapons, according to a published report.
As a result, Pakistan has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival, The Washington Post reported late Sunday, citing non-government analysts. India is estimated to have 60 to 100 weapons.
Only four years ago the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons. The article also talks about how Pakistan is holding an American that was involved in a double shooting despite claims of diplomatic immunity. That leads to the question, is Pakistan nuking up to protect itself from India, or the US? The US has been pushing hard on Pakistan to shape up for a good while now. Maybe they feel if they have enough nukes they can tell the rest of the world to go to hell and keep doing their old ways and letting the ISI fund all sorts of nasty buisness?
#1
Who is the bigger threat to the West Pakistan or Iran?Pakistan has the nukes.Iran the expansive ideology.
Whilst keeping an eye on Egypt,Somalia and Yemen.............
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/31/2011 11:04 Comments ||
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#2
If we counted them, would our number be anywhere close to theirs? If we counted the ones that weren't so rust-encrusted as to be non-functional, how many would that be?
The Palestinian territories overcounted their population by about one million people. There were double counts, calculations based on invalid assumptions, ignoring deaths... then the announced number was a calculation based on assumed birth rates from the exaggerated base number rather than doing an actual census.
#3
HMMMMM, HMMMMM, POST-"JASMIN/JASMINE" REGIONAL POLITICAL JIHAD SCENARIOS > "HEZBOLLAH IN PAKISTAN/AFPAK", versus "TALIBAN" in same, EXCEPT FOR BEING NUCLEAR-ARMED WID 100 NUCBOMBS.
Yokay, I'll bite, WHOM FORGOT TO SEND OR GET THE MEMO - "2012" IS NEXT YEAR, NOT THIS YEAR!
#4
ION WAFF > GREECE BRACES FOR MIGRANT [Refugee] INFLUX FROM EGYPT, as well as from other North African countries.
* ALso from WAFF > TSK TO TRAIN SYRIAN ARMY [Turkey attempting to eliminate former Soviet, now RUSSIAN, econ influence in Syria, espec vee ARMS, MILSYS SALES].
ALL OR LARGE PARTS THEREFROM ARE WITHIN THE RANGE OF [post-JASMINE?]PAKISTAN'S LR MISSLES???
[Pak Daily Times] Terming Salmaan Taseer 'Shaheed Insaniyat' (Martyr of Humanity), civil society members on Sunday demanded that the parliamentarians strongly condemn the murder of Taseer on floor of the house and appealed to the judiciary to immediately award Mumtaz Qadri death sentence proving him a killer instead of a hero.
Citizens for Democracy organised Chehlum of the slain governor at Kohsar Market. Several parliamentarians, civil society members, human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... activists and a large number of students participated in the ceremony.
Spokesman for Presidency Farhatullah Babar, Bushra Gauhar, Nafeesa Shah, Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood, Marvi Sirmed, Farzana Bari, Ashfaq Saleem Mirza, Harris Khalique, Romana Bashir, Nageen Hyat, Shyaan Afzal, Rehana Hashmi, Tariq Rehman and others spoke on the occasion.
Speakers said the murder of Salmaan Taseer was a cowardly act of violence, which could not create fear and stop them from raising voice for justice and for the protection of minorities and innocent people of Pakistain. They said Pakistain should be a country presenting the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the political parties should accept this challenge.
"The country has lost a hero who was direly needed for it. Taseer was known for his positive approach towards the equality and rights for women minorities. He spoke out, several times, against blasphemy law, especially in the case of Aasia Bibi, for whom he demanded a pardon," they said adding all those who wanted freedom in Pakistain should honour him.
Speakers said that it was a time to acknowledge that religious fanaticism was penetrated in the social fabric and unity was needed to counter it in an effective way. "We condemn the thinking that see Qadri as a hero. We condemn the role of lawyer's fraternity members who showered rose petals on Qardi being a murderer and offered him to contest his case free of cost. Extremists like Qadri want to sabotage peace in the country, " they said. Speakers said media was the fourth pillar of a state and it played a pivotal role in bringing change in society. They said it should project truth and present Qadri as a murderer, not as a hero.
They urged the parliament to enact such laws, which could render punishing possible to those who supported terrorism. They urged upon all liberal and progressive forces to come forward and join hands to eradicate all those forces that wanted to sabotage peace and ongoing democratic process in the country. "The assassinated governor was a brave person who dedicatedly worked for rights of the oppressed and he was the foremost politicians who talked about elimination or the amendment of blasphemy law in the country as they are being wrongly used for exploitation of minorities in particular," the speakers said.
Harris Khalique, Marvi Sirmed and others recited poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib on the occasion while Arieb Azhar, a noted Sufi and folk music artist, sang Bulleh Shah's poetry 'Makkay Gian Gal Mukdi Nah,i' and motivational song Mera Bhi Hay Tera Bhi Hay, Pakistain' on the occasion. At the end, the participants offered Fatiha for the departed soul of Taseer and prayed for the prosperity and progress of the nation. The participants lit candles and laid floral wreaths on the portrait of Taseer.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has said that revolution has become the fate of the country.
In his telephonic address at the MQM's Qaumi Yakjehti Jalsa (National Unity Meeting) at Jinnah Ground in Azizabad on Sunday, Altaf said, "Whenever I spoke about a revolution, I was criticised and questions were raised about revolution."
"Revolution is unfolding in Tunis and Egypt which everyone can see. This assembly in which people from all ethnic and cultural entities are participating is a revolution in its own right," he added.
He said, "I ask the journalists and intellectuals from Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Kashmire and other parts of the country that have come here to witness this public meeting to see for themselves if the people present here were brought out through force or at gunpoint."
"MQM does not have guns that kill, but it has the guns and rockets of love, peace and brotherhood," he added.
Only a revolution would usher in an era in which those looting the country and orchestrating kidnappings-for-ransom should be publicly hanged, he said, adding, "The properties of landlords and feudals will not be destroyed rather educational institutions and hospitals will be established on them."
Altaf called upon the youth in Punjab to join hands with the MQM and asked the "army, rangers and police to support the poor at the time of revolution."
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Sunday that the situation in Egypt and Tunisia cannot be compared with that of Pakistain as "our institutions are working and democracy is functional".
The prime minister made this remark while responding to a question about a recent statement of United States Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden. ... an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body ...
The government had been confidently moving forward with reconciliation process, Gilani told news hounds after inspecting the work on new terminal of Multan airport.
"Pakistain's economy is under pressure, not in crisis," he said and counted terrorism, extremism, global recession, floods and energy shortage as the factors responsible for it.
"Our foreign exchange reserves are at an unprecedented high level of $17 billion. The stock exchange index that was oscillating between 5,000 to 6,500 points when we took over is now touching 12,500 points. Our exports have reached $11 billion and may double by the end of this fiscal year, and foreign remittances are over $10 billion," the prime minister said while talking of his government's achievements.
Gilani said that the government was committed to strengthening institutions, adding that strong institutions could at least reduce corruption if not eliminate it. He held that with an effective Public Accounts Committee (PAC), free judiciary and media, corruption could be checked and informed the news hounds that negotiations for framing a new accountability law, in this regard, were underway.
The prime minister maintained that it was the dividend of democracy that ministers were being questioned by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which was not possible during the dictatorial regimes.
Speaking about the concerns of the Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz, Gilani said that the ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP) had been pursuing a policy of reconciliation and if PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... had any reservation "we will discuss it with the opposition team and address it". He added that this was the first government that consulted all the political forces on all major issues and did not resort to victimisation.
When asked, the prime minister declined to comment on the arrest of a US citizen, Raymond Davis, who rubbed out two youth in Lahore, saying the matter was being probed by courts and regional authorities.
"The federal government is not silent. This matter is in the court," Gilani said, adding that the Punjab government had been conducting an inquiry and "I would not comment until it is completed". Earlier, during a briefing on the new terminal building of Multan airport, Gilani was briefed that it would cost Rs 3.17 billion and would be completed by July 26, 2012.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Pakistain's main opposition religious party Jamat-e-Islami, along with 7 other parties including, Pakistain Mohammedan League (Q) and the banned Jamat-ud-dawa, staged a rally in Lahore protesting against the amendments to the blasphemy law in Pakistain.
The protestors demand the government reject western influence and criticized pope benedict for joining the west in the propaganda against the Mohammedan state. The Pope led international calls to show mercy Asia Bibi, who denies insulting the Prophet Muhammad during an argument in a Punjab province village in June 2009.
Pakistain government has said that there would be no change in the blasphemy law as it is trying to gain the confidence of the Pak people.
Blasphemy law amendment controversy started when a session court in Lahore, gave death sentence to Asia Bibi, a Christian woman for insulting Prophet Mohammed. It was followed by the killing of Former Governor Punjab, Salman Taseer, who was rubbed out by his security guard, Mumtaz Qadri, in Islamabad.
Qadri said he killed Taseer because of his negative remarks against the Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H). Qadri has been made a religious hero by the religious parties across Pakistain, and they have vowed to keep holding such protests until Pakistain government stops playing into the hands of the western countries and western pressure against the blasphemy law.
Religious parties want Pakistain to reject western interference in the country which according to them are made through pressure to change the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad said Sunday that President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas was looking into holding presidential and legislative elections despite the national division.
Speaking at a presser in Ramallah, Al-Ahmad said a meeting would be held Monday to discuss holding elections.
Fatah would support a government decision to hold elections, he said.
The PA called off elections in June 2010, just weeks ahead of a planned vote. Officials said the sudden decision stemmed from the refusal of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, officials in Gazoo to partake in the vote, a decision taken as early as March.
Critics accused the PA of pushing a Fatah agenda, and said the Fatah-led government canceled elections over fears the party would lose, as leftist parties gained popularity in the polls.
In December 2010, the Paleostinian High Court found the postponement of elections illegal, and said all efforts must be made to ensure that they were held as soon as possible.
On 21 December the Paleostinian Authority Cabinet in Ramallah authorized the Minister of Local Government to start the process of setting a new date for elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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The West should assume the Islamic Republic will be nuclear-armed by 2012 and act in accordance with that timetable, the UK Defence Secretary has said.
In the House of Commons, Dr Fox was asked about the assessment of Meir Dagan, the former Israeli intelligence chief, that Iran will be unable to develop a working nuclear weapon until 2015.
Dr Fox, a hawk who has repeatedly raised public concerns about Irans nuclear programme, told MPs that he thought Mr Dagans assessment could be too optimistic.
Instead, the West should plan on the basis that Tehran is much closer to developing a working nuclear weapon, he said.
We know from previous experience, not least from what happened in North Korea, that the international community can be caught out, assuming that things are more rosy than they are, Dr Fox said.
We should therefore be entirely clear that it is entirely possible that Iran may be on the 2012 end of that spectrum, and act in accordance with that warning."
Dr Foxs suggested timetable for the Iranian nuclear programme is in line with that set out last year by Leon Panetta, the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
However, the pessimistic British analysis comes days after international talks in Turkey on the Iranian programme once again failed to make significant progress.
[Ma'an] Syrian activists and opposition figures, including Michel Kilo and filmmaker Omar Amiralay, on Sunday hailed Tunisia's revolution and the uprising in Egypt as an example to all Arabs.
The Syrian people "also aspire to justice and freedom," they said in a statement sent to AFP.
"We salute the Tunisian people and their revolution and the uprising of the Egyptian people and their resistance to a corrupt and repressive regime," read the signed statement.
"We hope with all people, including the Syrians, for justice, liberty and equality for all," they said.
"The Tunisian people were in one month able to bring down one of the Arab world's most dictatorial and corrupt regimes ...
"This revolution has shown Arabs how closely Tunisia resembles their own countries, where power and wealth are concentrated in the same hands, and where repression and the plundering of the public purse go hand-in-hand."
It said "Arab governments had rushed to offer limited social services while tightening their grip on their people" but "this has not prevented other Arab peoples, especially the Egyptians, from drawing inspiration" from Tunisia.
"The Arab people have found their route to freedom, namely peaceful, non-violent social resistance uniting the population against those who repress it and steal its wealth," said the text.
Among the 39 signatories were political opposition figures who have served long prison terms, including economist Aref Dalila, poet Faraj Beirakdar, and authors Yassin Haj Saleh, Michel Kilo and Fayez Sara.
Filmmakers, researchers and lawyers were also on the list.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Any of these activists sign this document from within the borders of Syria?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/31/2011 7:58 Comments ||
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#2
While I wish for "justice, liberty, and equality for all", I hope they realize freedom is not the fruit of Islam. "Reject the asp only to get a viper"?
[Iran Press TV] Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Dutch Envoy to Tehran Cees J. Kole over the meddlesome remarks of the foreign minister of the Netherlands.
On Saturday, the Netherlands formally froze all contact with Iran following the execution of Dutch-Iranian narco Zahra Bahrami.
Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said, "The Netherlands is very shocked by this execution, this scandalous deed."
According to the announcement of the Tehran Prosecutor's Office Bahrami was a member of an international drug trafficking ring, who with the help of her Dutch links, smuggled cocaine to Iran.
A search of her house uncovered 450 grams of cocaine and 420 grams of opium, the announcement added.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry reminded the Netherlands of Iran's laws regarding drug trafficking drugs and cautioned the Dutch government against supporting criminals and interfering in Tehran's internal affairs.
Referring to the independency of Iran's Judiciary, the Foreign Ministry stressed that all Iranian citizens are all equal before the law, and Tehran will not allow narcos to commit illegal acts with the support of foreign countries.
In recent weeks, some Western media have reported that Bahrami was jugged for participating in anti-government protests in 2009.
Last week, Iran's Foreign Ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast described the allegations as a pretext to exert pressure on the country.
"It is expected from the western countries to appreciate Iran's efforts to combat drug trafficking and even cooperate accordingly," he said.
Mehmanparast advised the West to realize that if the issue of combating drug trafficking is not taken seriously, it will directly affect their own youth who will be entrapped by narcos.
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01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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Iran said on Sunday it will showcase what it called a new range of rockets and satellites during annual celebrations marking the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Conveniently timed so that we can remember which president 'lost Iran', and which one is about to 'lose Egypt'.
Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Safir 1-B and Kavoshgar 4 rockets and Rasad and Fajr satellites would be unveiled during the 10-day celebrations that start on Tuesday, according to state television website.
Iran will mark on February 11 the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed shah. Every year Tehran uses the occasion to tout its scientific and technological achievments.
The Safir (Ambassador) 1-B rocket can carry a satellite weighing 50 kilogrammes (110 pounds) into an elliptical orbit of 300 to 450 kilometres (185 to 280 miles), the website said. Iran sent into space in February 2009 the Safir 2 rocket carrying its first home-built satellite, called Omid (Hope).
The state television report said the other Kavoshgar (Explorer) 4 rocket has a range of 120 kilometres.
In February 2010, Iran launched a capsule carrying live turtles, rats and mullahs worms aboard a Kavoshgar 3 rocket in what was its first experiment to send living creatures in space.
In December, Vahidi said Iran would launch a Fajr (Dawn) reconnaissance satellite in the next few months, along with a Rasad (Observation) 1 satellite that was initially to have been launched in August 2010.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meanwhile on Sunday opened a new space research and training centre, media reports said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Wonder if there's Seimens gear in mission control?
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.
Somali pirates
Tunis, Tunisia -- In the mornings, barber Fadhi Ayari blasts recordings of Koranic verses from his shop's stereo. But it's just a habit, he explains as he turns down the volume. He says he rarely ventures to the mosque just across the street. He laughs uneasily at the prospect of the long-outlawed Islamist party 
[An Nahar] Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi, who returned home Sunday after more than 20 years in exile, said his movement would not field a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
[Ennahar] Algerian Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia reminded that no march will be permitted by the authorities in Algiers, in an interview Sunday with the French-language daily Liberté.
[Arab News] US Secretary of State 
[Arab News] Top dissident Mohamed El-Baradei told a sea of angry protesters in Cairo on Sunday that they were beginning a new era after six days of a deadly revolt against 
Pakistan has doubled its nuclear weapons stockpile over the past several years, increasing its arsenal to more than 100 deployed weapons, according to a published report.
Iran said on Sunday it will showcase what it called a new range of rockets and satellites during annual celebrations marking the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
