[Tolo News] Karzai's decision to disband Nato's provincial reconstruction teams has caused widespread concerns among experts and activists in Afghanistan.
Some Afghan activists described President Karzai's new suggestion about disbandment of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) as premature and devastating.
At Munich Security Conference, President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai emphasised on a need to dissolve all private security firms and said provincial reconstruction teams should end their missions in Afghanistan.
President Karzai described provincial reconstruction teams as immense challenge facing the Afghan government, the New York Times reported.
"I disagree with the idea and consider it a big loss to our provinces," Habibullah Kalimzai, an Afghan political analyst, told TOLOnews.
"Karzai's stances are not based on will of the people and Afghan institutions, but are more political," Haroun Mir, an Afghan political analyst, told TOLOnews.
According to New York Times Karzai has come up with the decision because donor countries directly support PRTs.
Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, opposed Karzai's claim and said the teams pose no problems to the Afghan government.
Western countries have been doubtful about Karzai's potential to fight corruption in his government system, the New York Times said.
President Karzai's decision on PRTs is seen as clearly indicating that the presence of international community hugely threatens his authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Funny how even a creep like Karzai understands the Chicago Way, that those in charge of payoffs are the ones who set the rules.
I can only assume that W. Bush didn't want Afghanistan to stop being a failed state, as his reason for sustaining a piss poor form of government for them. It stands in stark contrast to what we did in Iraq.
#2
Actually, Bush's approach to Afghanistan was the correct one : do just what you need to and not a bit more, since it has always been and will always be a tribal hellhole. Iraq at least had a large middle class and a significant portion of the public was well-educated; Afghanistan is just the opposite. The only way to cleanup Afghanistan to kill half of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and half of them in Pakistan, and make sure the non-Pashtuns rule Afghanistan - sort of like we had to do to the Apaches along the Mexican border. But there is no way in hell that we would be permitted to do that in the modern era, even if we had the political leadership with the balls to try it.
The 44th armoured battalion of the Johannes Post barracks in Havelte is preparing to go to Kunduz to protect the 200 police trainers being sent to Afghanistan by the government, according to sources quoted in the Telegraaf.
The 44th, part of the Johan Willem Friso infantry regiment, previously took a peace-keeping role during the Unifil mission to Libanon in 1979. There has been no comment from the defence ministry.
Around 60 of the battalion will be deployed in Kunduz and the rest at a military base where four Dutch F-16s will be stationed.
Thanks to the combined efforts of the prime minister, foreign minister Uri Rosenthal and commander in chief Van Uhm the tally unexpectedly came to 200 police trainers, 300 troops plus four F-16's to keep an eye on things.
The current plan then has everything to do with the Dutch relationship with the Americans, Nato and the international community. 'Tonga does more than the Netherlands' almost became a byword for Dutch military stinginess.
But that is not how it ought to be, just as the PvdA's pointing out that 'the Netherlands has done its bit, it's time others did their share and besides our stuff is worn out' is not as it should be either.
Small countries like the Netherlands can only afford to say this sort of thing because they are safely tucked underneath the American blanket. What if Obama said the same and packed up and left Afghanistan to face chaos and radical Pakistani elements? We have to help Washington accomplish a proper exit strategy.
The proposed police mission is a modest one -- slightly bigger than Tonga's. Rumour has it that Nato wanted much more. The haggling about the size of the mission highlights the vulnerability of Rutte's cabinet and his endless efforts to woo the opposition.
#1
From an old cold warrior view, it is quite interesting to see the Czechs, Poles, and Romanians at Bagram and elsewhere. Former Soviet Union (FSU) members appear to be playing a larger role than many of our NATO pals. Memories, how short they can be
Talking about an "exit strategy" in AFG is something akin to the Chicago Police Commissioner saying ......"we're wrapping it up in the city. We're pulling out and moving up to Milwaukee to see how we can assist there." This is an all day sucker.
#2
Eastern Europeans remember very clearly both how the US always tried to stand up for them, when they were slaves to the Russians; and how the western Europeans were more than willing to leave them to stew in their own juices.
Here is a painting, done by a Hungarian, showing Richard Nixon as Moses, leading the Hungarian people out of bondage.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] A Pak operative based in Kenya has been behind uranium smuggling in the region, a diplomatic cable released by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks reveals. I'm thinking seriously of changing the "India-Pakistan" heading to read "Pakistain's War on Civilization."
The cable dated February 12, 2008, shows that a huge consignment of first grade pure uranium that was to be bought by the Pak was held up in the Democratic Republic Congo as a result of the post-election violence that hit the country after the December 2007 General Election.
The uranium was to be moved from DRC to Kenya via Uganda when the mission aborted.
"Per the source, there was a Pak buyer in Kenya who is not able to purchase the uranium due to the ongoing civil unrest in Kenya," the cable by a US diplomat in Kampala to his colleague in DRC indicates.
It adds that the source, who is conversant with trade in uranium, was asked to provide a good quality photograph of the canister with the headline of a current newspaper in the background to ascertain if the canister really existed.
The latest development raises fears that Kenya could be a major transit point for smuggled uranium that ends up either in Pakistain or Iran for the development of nuclear facilities.
The US believes that Islamabad and Tehran's nuclear programmes are aimed at producing nuclear weapons, but the two countries insist it is intended for peaceful use.
Another cable leaked last year, indicated that the US suspects that Kenya and Tanzania have been used to smuggle uranium for Iran's controversial nuclear project.
Source of mineral
The cables identify the DRC as the source of the mineral, which once refined can be used in reactors to generate electricity or in making bombs.
The uranium was to be transported through multiple ports across DRC and Uganda before finding its way into Kenya.
However, The infamous However... the mission was called off by the Congolese man who had the uranium after being informed about the post-election violence in Kenya by the Pak buyer.
The cable says the uranium was classified as highly enriched grade pure liquid and was accompanied by poor quality photocopies of the canister and a chart indicating the uranium level.
DRC has extensive deposits of high grade uranium ore. The embassy cables from Kinshasa and Dar es Salaam suggest that the uranium is mined in the Katanga province by foreign firms before being shipped to Iran through East Africa.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Monday he would accept the vote of the south to secede, hours before the release of final results of an independence referendum.
The January 9 referendum capped a 2005 north-south peace deal, with the goal of ending a vicious cycle of civil war that has destabilized the region for decades. The final result is expected to confirm a 99 percent vote to split from the north.
"Today we will announce in front of the entire world our acceptance and respect for the choice of the people of the south," Bashir told supporters in Khartoum.
"The final results of the referendum are known and it is for secession and... we will commit to the final result."
Bashir's comments will allay any fears of north Sudanese reluctance to let the oil-producing south go peacefully.
Most of Sudan's oil lies in the south but the infrastructure is in the north, which will force economic cooperation following secession and should ensure that neither side can afford a return to armed conflict.
Monday's announcement of final referendum returns will likely be followed by recognition of the south's right to become the world's newest independent nation by capitals around the world and multilateral bodies including the African Union and United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society.
The south is expected to formally declare independence on July 9.
Bashir made clear that no one would have dual north and south Sudanese nationality, despite the principle being allowed in the constitution, underlining the uneasy relationship the two new nations will have after secession.
Disputes remain over the drawing of the border -- along which much of the oil wealth lies -- as well as citizenship, the division of precious Nile water and oil revenues, and the major stumbling block of Abyei, a region claimed by both sides.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Hudna?
Posted by: Grunter in Sydney ||
02/08/2011 7:20 Comments ||
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#2
He's just lost half his country by being a jerk even among dictators. Ben Ali was kicked out after being relatively nice for too long.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 8:53 Comments ||
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#3
he still has the shoulder boards, which is nice
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/08/2011 8:55 Comments ||
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CAIRO (Reuters) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday talks to resolve Egypt's crisis were making progress, but the main Islamist opposition in Cairo said it could quit the process if protesters' demands were not met.
Bet you never saw that coming...
Obama's comments seemed to contradict reality those by Egyptian opposition figures who reported little progress in talks over demands including the immediate exit of President Hosni Mubarak.
"Obviously, Egypt has to negotiate a path and they're making progress," Obama told reporters in Washington.
Protesters barricaded in a tent camp in Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo have vowed to stay until Mubarak quits and hope to take their two-week campaign to the streets with more mass demonstrations on Tuesday and Friday. Many young men dismissed the political dialogue taking place.
No one gives a rat's ass what they think. Hasn't that been made obvious enough?
The United States has urged all sides to allow time for an "orderly transition" to a new political order in Egypt, for decades a strategic ally. But protesters worry that when Mubarak does leave, he will be replaced not with the democracy they seek but with another authoritarian ruler.
The opposition has been calling for the constitution to be rewritten to allow free and fair presidential elections, a limit on presidential terms, the dissolution of parliament, the release of political detainees and lifting of emergency law.
"We are assessing the situation. We are going to reconsider the whole question of dialogue," the Brotherhood's Essam el-Erian told Reuters. "We will reconsider according to the results. Some of our demands have been met but there has been no response to our principal demands that Mubarak leave."
The potential rise to power of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, widely seen as by far the best organized opposition group, troubles Egypt's Western allies and neighbor Israel, which has a peace treaty with the Arab country.
Obama said on Sunday the Brotherhood lacks majority support.
But he likes them just fine...
On Monday the White House expressed concern about the group's "anti-American rhetoric," but stopped short of saying it would be against the group taking a role in a future government.
"We have significant disagreements (with the Brotherhood)," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
"C'mon guys, don't blow it now!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] Ennahar publishes surprising information on the case of the fortune amassed by Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, after that of platinum worth 61 billion dollars deposited in Swiss.
This information is related to arms sales contracts made by Hosni Mubarak and his Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, according to secret U.S. intelligence documents and other institutions from United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society institutions and International crime court.
Dated January 11, 1994, while war raged in Rwanda between Tutsis and Hutus, Rwanda's ambassador in Cairo sent a letter to Egyptian Minister of Defense, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, asking him to prepare for hosting a military delegation from Rwanda, including Colonel Gratien Kabiligi, Head of the delegation and head of operations at the General Staff of the Rwandan army, and Lt. Col. Cyprien Kayumba, Director of Finance, Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Rwanda. Such delegations will arrive in Cairo during the week of 1/17 to 1/23/1994 for a period of one week.
What was surprising in that letter from the Ambassador of Rwanda is that it was for the Egyptian Minister of defense Mohamed Hussein Tantawi through an official at the Egyptian Ministry of Defense, General Seyed Sami, in his capacity responsible for relations with friendly countries, instead of being sent according to the diplomatic norms.
This letter comes after a letter sent by the Office of Egyptian Ministry of Defense who expressed his agreement for the sale of arms to the Rwandan army while the United Nations had imposed an embargo on arms sales to Rwanda during the period of civil war where massacres were committed by the Rwandan army against Hutu tribe and the Tutsi rebels.
A correspondence was forwarded to the Egyptian Embassy in Kigali by the ICC on the movement of Rwandan military officials in Cairo under the arms purchase agreements in Egypt.
The Egyptian ambassador, Djamel Chahine, in a letter, pretended to ignore the repeated trips to Cairo by Colonel Gratien Kabiligi.
Another secret document from the inquiry of the French parliament on the involvement of La Belle France and some Egyptian officials in the sale of arms to Rwanda shows operations transfer of large sums from Cairo to Credit Lyonnais Bank in La Belle France. The commission asked officials of the bank but they refused to talk under the bank secrecy.
Other documents of U.S. intelligence, dated March 31, 1994, reveal the involvement of Egypt in arms deals for the Rwandan army, accused of war crimes. According to the document, after the pressures on La Belle France, Germany and Belgium to respect the decisions of the UN arms embargo on Rwanda, the latter resorted to Egypt and Israel.
A contract, according to the document, signed by Hosni Mubarak with the Rwandan army March 30, 1992 for $ 6 million.
The contract included significant quantities of heavy and light weapons, ammunition and explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Whats Dyncorp been up to in Rwanda lately? Or was that the DR Congo?
[Ennahar] Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) warned Monday of a new liquidation attempt against Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz whom it accuses of waging against her a "proxy war" on behalf of La Belle France.
"A new attempt will be conducted by us and we will continue to do so until he stopped the proxy war he waged against the Mujahideen on behalf of La Belle France," said an AQIM statement released Monday by the private online agency Nouakchott information (ANI).
He called the Mauritanian army to remove the head of state, accusing him of wanting to "impose a war that is not hers" in "alliance with the Crusaders."
This text confirms earlier statements of a front man for AQIM: he said that his organization had endorsed the president of Mauritania in an operation foiled last week by the Mauritanian army.
Very active in the anti-AQIM's fight, the army of Ould Abdel Aziz managed to prevent several attempted attacks of the Maghreb branch of Al-Qaeda in Nouakchott, against President Abdel Aziz, the Embassy of La Belle France and barracks, according to various sources.
In total, four suspected members of AQIM were killed (three killed by the army, the latter did away with himself), two were nabbed. A Mauritanian gendarme was also killed and eight maimed during these operations.
Mauritania is one of the most affected countries by the activities of AQIM that has bases in Mali and operates in the Sahel where it is guilty of bombings, abductions, mostly of Western nationals, and various trafficking.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] The wilaya (Prefecture) of Algiers announced Monday it had rejected a request for authorization of an opposition march in Algiers on February 12 and proposed as an alternative to its initiative to organize a demonstration in a large room in the capital.
"In accordance with regulations in force, a refusal was notified to the authors of this demand," said the wilaya in a statement.
The event will be held in "one of several venues in the capital, including the dome of Boudiaf Olympic complex with a capacity of 10,000 seats," it said, quoted by APS.
The National Coordination for Change and Democracy (NCCD), comprising opposition and civil society, born in the wake of riots against high prices in early January, called for a march Saturday in Algiers to demand the lifting of the particular state emergency, in force since February 1992 and a "system change".
Last Saturday, the CNDC decided to maintain its course despite the liberalization measures announced Thursday by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a month after the riots against high prices that had killed five people.
The Head of State had also recalled that Algiers was banned in the demonstrations but that steps could be held elsewhere. For the authorities, the ban on marches in Algiers is justified by "public order reasons."
Street demonstrations are banned in the capital of 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 National Coordinating gathers including the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD, opposition), the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH) and representatives of civil society.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Kuwait's embattled interior minister stepped down Sunday amid rising political tensions that include calls for the first major Gulf street protests inspired by uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere.
Opposition groups have sharply escalated pressure on Kuwait's leadership in recent months over claims of corruption in the oil-rich state and perceived attempts to roll back political freedoms. Kuwait's political system is the most open in the Gulf and its parliament is one of the few elected bodies in the region capable of demanding reforms from rulers.
The change at the Interior Ministry could signal an attempt to weaken the calls on social media sites for street demonstrations Tuesday outside parliament to protest "undemocratic" practices by Kuwait's government. If major crowds gather, it would mark the first anti-government rallies in the Gulf since the toppling of Tunisia's strongman ruler last month touched off other Arab protest movements, including Egypt's groundswell against geriatric President Hosni Mubarak.
Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported that Kuwait's leaders accepted the resignation of the interior minister, Sheik Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah, and replaced him with a close relative of Kuwait's ruler.
Sheik Jaber has been the target of a political storm after a man nabbed for illegal liquor sales was allegedly tortured to death while in police custody. Kuwaiti authorities declared that the detainee was murdered and the case was referred to the public prosecutor.
Sheik Jaber had submitted his resignation after the post-mortem report last month, but he was asked to stay on. He is now replaced by Sheikh Ahmed Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah, a cousin of Kuwait's emir.
The shake-up is the latest struggle for the government and showed the growing force of opposition groups in Kuwait's parliament.
In December, politicians grilled the prime minister in a rare parliamentary questioning session called after security forces clashed with opposition deputies and their supporters at a Dec. 8 rally.
The prime minister, who took office in 2006, survived a no-confidence vote in December 2009 after allegations that public funds were misused.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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One of Russia's most bandidos, Chechen warlord Doku Count Doku Umarov, has said he ordered the deadly kaboom last month on a Moscow airport. "I dunnit an' I'm glad!"
The suicide kaboom on the arrivals area of Domodedovo international airport on 24 January left 36 people dead and 180 injured.
In a video posted online, Mr Umarov said the attack was a response to "Russian crimes in the Caucasus".
Similar suicide kabooms would continue, he added, speaking in Russian.
Mr Umarov is leader of the "Caucasus Emirate", an Islamist Islamic myrmidon group spanning the North Caucasus, and is one of the few prominent Chechen rebels still left alive, having served as security minister in the Chechen separatist government from 1996-99.
He has also claimed the March 2010 suicide kabooms on the Moscow Metro in which 39 people died, and is said to have ordered the November 2009 bombing of a train from Moscow to St Petersburg that left 26 dead
#2
not too mention claiming it after Putin said it probably wasn't muslims from the Caucasus
Posted by: chris ||
02/08/2011 13:45 Comments ||
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#3
OTOH CNN AM > CSIS PERT-ANALYST ANDREW KUCHINS = argued that POTUS OBAMA's response to the so-called "Jasmine" mass protests in TUNISIA + EGYPT, etc. IS INHERENTLY WEAK, BUT THAT THE BAMMER = USA CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE ANY SUCH SIMILAR WEAK RESPONSE AS PER RUSSIA'S TROUBLES IN THE CAUCASUS [DOKU + Chechen Rebels], as such could inpire Regional Militants to new heights of Violence as well as derail = undo any US-RUSSIA progress achieved within the past Decade(s) e.g. START + Trade. RUSSIA MAY CHOOSE TO RETURN TO SOVIET-ERA, HARDLINE = TOTALITARIAN POLICIES INCLUDING NEW BELLIGERENCIES AGZ THE US-WEST IN ORDER TO DIVERT INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION FROM ISLAMIST TROUBLES???
IIUC, POTUS BAMMER > may not risk LOSING EGYPT + AMER'S MIDDLE EAST MUSLIM ALLIES + ME DEMOCRACY BUT ALSO DE FACTO PEACE WID DA 'CUZINS VLADVEDEV.
[PRE-WW1 + GERMAN-WILLY-VS-RUSSIAN-NICKY STRONGLY WORDED LETTERS, + GRANDMA QUEEN "WE ARE NOT AMUSED" VICTORIA here].
WAFF > JAPANESE RADICALS DESECRATE RUSSIAN [national]FLAG.
WMF POSTER = argued that JAPAN = GOVT. + PEOPLE should be HAPPY that RUSSIA is STRENGTHENING ITS KURILES GARRISON [Mil presence]+ MAY BUILD NEW MILBASES, BASE RUSSNAV WARSHIPS THERE, AS THE FOCII = POINT OF THE RUSS GARRISON IS TO MONITOR CHINESE NAVAL ACTIVITY [CPLAN, + Other MiL]. JAPAN AT PRESENT CANNOT PROVIDE AN EFFEC MILPOL COUNTERWEIGHT AGZ RISING CHINA IN NORPAC + EAST CHINA SEA WIDOUT RUSSIA - JAPAN NEEDS RUSSIA FOR ITS OWN FAR EAST = REGIONAL DEFENSE + GEOPOL SECURITY - EVERY RUBLE SPENT BY RUSSIA ON KURILES MILBASES IS A YEN THAT JAPAN DOESN'T HAVE TO SPEND ON ITS OWN NATIONAL, REGIONAL DEFENSE.
Methinks the same holds true for SOUTH KOREA + even TAIWAN - RUSSIA to the far North, JAPAN + its potent SDFS in Center, US in East, South from Okinawa + Taiwan to Vietnam + Diego Garcia + Singapore.
and
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > [Ex-USDNI Chief Dennis Blair] EX-US INTELLIGENCE OFFICIAL SAYS JAPAN-US ALLIANCE IS UNBALANCED. Blair calls for JAPAN to renounce or modify its post-WW2 ANTI-WAR NATIONAL CONSTITUTION in order to enable it to expand its national military capabilities.
Read, CONSTITUTIONAL = LEGAL ALLOWANCE FOR JAPAN TO DEV STRATEGIC NUC ARSENAL + UN-LED ARMED PEACEKEEPING + UN "POLICE ACTIONS" [combat operations].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > POSTER OP-ED THREAD > asks CAN JAPAN + CHINA BECOME ALLIES IN THE VERY NEAR FUTURE? |JAPAN TO SET UP ADVISORY PANEL ON CHINA ISSUES.
POSTER = argues that ...
> US will NEVER GIVE CONTROL = DOMINATION OF JAPAN + JAPANESE PEOPLE.
> Iff the British Empire did not become WEAK, INDIA would never have its Freedom.
> Iff the US does NOT leave EAST ASIA, JAPAN will never get its own Freedom.
> Iff JAPAN wants to escape the US, IT NEEDS THE HELP OF OTHER REGIONAL, WORLD COUNTRIES TO DO SO [China, etc.].
> CHINA + JAPAN'S ECONOMIES are Complementary.
> CHINESE + JAPANESE PEOPLES LIKE TO ARGUE WID EACH OTHER BUT ALSO NEED EACH OTHER. Beijing + Tokyo know this fact.
> CHINA PRESENTLY HAS NO ABILITY TO INDEPENDENTLY = UNILATERALLY CONTROL EAST ASIA, DITTO JAPAN WID NO MAJOR ABILITY AT ALL.
JSDF is a "DEFENSIVE" = REACTIONARY FORCE.
> CHINA + JAPAN in time should become STRATEGIC PARTNERS e.g. FRANCE-GERMANY [Russia - MISTRAL?], AT LEAST IN SELECT KEY/VITAL AREAS OF COOPERATION.
SEOUL -- North Korea may attempt this year to arrange a visit by its leader-in-waiting to the country's foremost benefactor, China, in a bid to consolidate his power base and ease Pyongyang's economic hardships, the chief of a state-run think tank here said Monday.
"The biggest event for North Korea this year would be a trip to Beijing by Kim Jong-un alone," Nam Sung-wook, director of the Institute for National Security, said in a meeting with reporters, referring to the 20-something apparent successor to Kim Jong-il.
Nam, whose institute is overseen by the National Intelligence Service, predicted Pyongyang will fail to overcome its economic woes, saying that it will rather seek help by restoring denuclearization-for-aid talks
Talks. Not actually achieving denuclearization. Don't fall for that old ploy, South Korea!
and improving its ties with South Korea. The key to achieving the goal could be winning the support of China, Nam said, while Kim Jong-un will likely be tasked with the job.
"If Kim can secure the resumption of six-party talks, he is likely to gain a higher position by publicizing his exploits," Nam said,
What's higher than sole heir of a second generation totalitarian despot? Within North Korea, I mean. Outside the country the ruler has all the status of a barely restrained rabid dog.
adding Kim appears to be being groomed by actively engaging in all areas of state affairs.
Nam added that North Korea will likely credit Kim Jong-un if the country also succeeds in mending ties with South Korea and winning economic assistance from Seoul. Nam expected the hereditary power transition in North Korea will culminate around the birthday of the country's late founder, Kim Il-sung, in April next year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Fail to overcome its economic woes" > which in reality is how CHINA covertly really wants the North to be, i.e. AN ANTI-FOREIGN,PRO-CHINA NORTH KOREA = PAN-KOREAN BUFFER STATE THAT IS ECON "SUFFICIENT/MINIMALIST" = MILITARILY WEAK, ESPEC IN RELATION TO CHINA.
China also likes to downplay or hide its historic troubles wid anti-Beijing/China Korean rebels.
NORTH KOREA wants to STOP STARVING, while RISING CHINA DESIRES UNILATERAL/SOLE BASE RIGHTS = WARM WATER PORTS THROUGHOUT THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN".
IMO A SECOND KOREAN WAR [Nuclear?] WILL INDEED OCCUR THIS DECADE, IFF NOT EARLIER, IFF ONE OR BOTH DO NOT GET WHAT THEY DESIRE.
------------
ION NOT-KOREA, TOPIX > JAPANESE PM PLEDGES TENACIOUS EFFORT TO RECOVER DISPUTED ISLANDS [former Japanese Kurils/Kuriles].
* SAME > ISLANDS CLAIMED BY JAPAN WILL BE RUSSIA'S FOREVER: INSISTS KREMLIN.
IMO 'tis more about CONTAINING CHINA THAN RUSSIA-VS-JAPAN oer the Kuriles.
SEOUL -- Military officers from South and North Korea Tuesday began preliminary talks to lay groundwork for a higher-level meeting, a defense ministry official said, the first meeting since the North's deadly bombardment of a border island.
"The working-level military talks started at around 10:00 a.m. as scheduled in the Demilitarized Zone," said an official at the Defense Ministry. The colonel-level talks are aimed at setting the date, place and agenda for higher-level talks, possibly at the level of defense ministers.
But the South's defense ministry said it won't agree to ministerial-level talks unless North Korea apologizes and takes "responsible measures" for the Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the torpedo attack of a South Korean warship last March.
The preliminary talks are led by Col. Moon Sang-gyun of the South and Col. Ri Son-kwon of the North, who have served as representatives for working-level military talks from each side for years.
South Korean military officials were still cautious about the prospects of the working-level meeting.
"There is the possibility that the preliminary talks may end at a level where the two sides confirm each other's stance," a military official said. "The two sides could hold several rounds of preliminary talks."
After sharply raising tensions with the two attacks last year, North Korea started this year with what South Korean officials called a "peace offensive" by repeatedly calling for talks with the South. Last month, South Korea accepted the North's proposal for the preliminary military talks. The development followed a U.S.-China summit, during which the leaders of Washington and Beijing agreed that inter-Korean dialogue is necessary before resuming the six-party talks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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North Korea was acutely embarrassed on Saturday when the Russian Foreign Ministry rebutted its claim that Moscow does not back UN Security Council debate on its uranium enrichment program. The North made the claim last Wednesday.
But the Russian statement said North Korea's uranium enrichment capability has reached a level where it can violate UNSC resolutions and needs more careful international inspection. "We respect the opinions of other permanent members of the Security Council on this issue," it added.
The North's official KCNA news agency had claimed, "Russia does not back UNSC debate, but media reports make it look as if the country were backing such debate."
Earlier on Jan. 28, Alexei Borodavkin, the chief Russian negotiator to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear program, said in Seoul that Russia does not oppose UNSC debate on the issue.
"Russia is displeased at the North's arbitrary distortion of its stance," a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said. "The Russian statement is a warning to the North."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
First JAPAN oer the latter's lost South Kuriles territories, now NORTH KOREA is unhappy.
Speaking of NIPPON = FLYING DRAGON/FISH ISLES,
VARIOUS RELATED ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > JAPAN DEMANDS [return of] ISLANDS FROM RUSSIA.
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > JAPANESE GOVERNOR BURNS RUSSIA FLAG IN PROTEST OVER KURILE ISLANDS | {Yahoo News, Freerepublic, Topix] RUSSIA + JAPAN WAGE WAR OF WORDS OVER ISLANDS.
Protest rally was attended by Japanese PM Nato Kan.
Japan FM Saehara repor claims he'd rather die + lose his career than allow Russia to permanently keep the former Japanese Kuriles = "Northern Territories".
* DAILY TIMES.PK > JAPAN RALLY FOR RETURN OF ISLANDS FROM RUSSIA.
Meanwhile, RUSS FM LAVROV > in response belabels Japan's statements as HOSTILE + clearly UN-DIPLOMATIC. Urges Japan to reconsider its position as well as to work wid Moscow on dev the Kuriles.
Be it JAPAN ANDOR NORTH KOREA, IMO NOT GOOD KARMA FOR RISING CHINA'S AMBITION as per unrestricted PLA mil access thru the Kuriles = SEA OF OKHOTSK.
Again, by declaring that the Southern Kuriles = Japanese "Northern Territories" are PERMANENT SOVEREIGN RUSS TERRITORY, IMO RUSSIA HAS ESSENS DECLARED THE SAME TO BE A RUSSIAN MIL ZONE REQUIRING RUSS APPROVAL = TREATY? TO TRANSIT.
JAPAN'S SDFS + CHIN PLA are now all but absolutely limited to mil operations in the SEA OF JAPAN PROPER + SEA OF KOREAS/EAST CHINA SEA + TAIWAN STRAITS.
This places priority in China on the SOUTH KOREA-OKINAWA-TAIWAN-GUAM CORRIDOR + the OUTCOME OF US-JAPAN TALKS ON MARINE RELOC TO GUAM FROM OKINAWA, since post-Soviet/9-11 Russia still has a deadly Strategic, Tactical Nuclear Arsenal while Japan has neither + likely to remain so 2011-2020/2025 unless something changes. Ditto South Korea.
IMO CHINA gained nothing by Russia's Declaration - ANGRY JAPAN, on the other hand, indir gained a SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH COVERT ANTI-CHINA PARTNER IN RUSSIA FOR THE MILITARY SECURITY OF NORTHERN JAPAN [wid the US in its South].
IRONY > CMF BLOGGER > opined that IFF JAPAN DOES DECIDE TO GO NUCLEAR + HAVE NUCWEAPS, CHINA WILL SWEAT FOR 10 YEARS AS JAPAN DEVS LR NUKE ICBMS, BUT THE US WILL SWEAT FOR 100 YEARS OR SO FOR SAME.
One aspect not generally understood, is that most Presidents in the third world get 5% of the government budget as a "personal allowance".
There is no check on how this money is spent, nor is the president required to present details on his spending. It can be worth a lot of money after 30 years, especially if invested "wisely" in first world countries.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said the Egyptian president lent him and his family a plane during a holiday in Egypt at Christmas.
Hosni Mubarak, who is facing widespread anti-government protests, also paid for Mr Fillon's holiday accommodation.
How...generous. This is how the elites of the world take care of each other. Peasants need not apply.
Another French minister has said she used a Tunisian businessman's plane during the country's uprising. Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, who has faced calls to resign, said she deeply regretted her actions.
The US ambassador to Pakistain pressed the country's president Monday to release an American official who Washington says was illegally jugged after he shot and killed two men in Lahore. What part of "diplomatic immunity" can't you comprehend?
Ambassador Cameron Munter's meeting with President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... in Islamabad followed repeated public demands for the American's freedom.
The US has said the American, who has been identified by Paks as Raymond Allen Davis, acted in self-defense when he shot the two men on Jan 27 and must be released because he has diplomatic immunity.
Munter told Zardari that "Pakistain must comply with its obligations under international law and immediately release the American diplomat illegally jugged in Lahore," according to US Embassy spokeswoman Courtney Beale.
Presidential front man Farhatullah Babar confirmed the meeting took place but refused to comment on details of the discussion.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] An investigation team has found maps and other 'spying equipment' from the possession of Raymond Davis, an American official involved in the killing of two men in Lahore.
According to sources, the team had recovered a pistol, facial make-up, ATM cards of five different banks, wireless set and pictures of different areas of Multan, Sargodha and Lahore. No shuttergun, so I call bullshit...
D'you suppose facial makeup is suntan lotion or chapstick?
The team also found a GPS tracker, telescope, passport, two mobile phones, valet and a dairy. A valet? A dairy? This guy travels in style...
Valet might mean wallet, but the other is definitely a misspelling of diary.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
the other is definitely a misspelling of diary
One hopes so. Not only is it awkward to carry cows on short errands - given the lactose intolerance of much of Pakistan's population, doing so might a breach of the biological/chemical warfare conventions, in the minds of the excitable.
[Arab News] At an event in Jeddah on Saturday evening, a leading OIC official reaffirmed the organization's complete solidarity with the people of Kashmire and its continued support for their right to self-determination.
Speaking at a function held at the residence of the Consulate General of Pakistain in Jeddah to mark Kashmire Day, the OIC's Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Abdullah A. Alim said the OIC believed violence would not lead to the resolution of the Kashmire dispute. He said the solution lies in fostering dialogue and peaceful negotiation between the parties concerned, including the Kashmirei people. Ambassador Alim, who is also the Special Representative of the OIC secretary-general on Jammu and Kashmire, praised Pakistain's commitment to the grinding of the peace processor, hoping the Indian government would adopt the same approach to facilitate an early settlement of the dispute.
He said that the OIC has been working to highlight the plight of the Kashmirei people and mobilize greater support for their cause.
Alim said he would visit Jammu and Kashmire in the near future to express support for the people of Kashmire.
Chairman of Kashmire Committee, Jeddah chapter, Masood Poori said the Kashmire issue remains an unfinished agenda and needs to be resolved for regional and world peace.
Earlier, Consul General Abdul Salik Khan read the message of Pakistain's President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... highlighting the urgent need for a resolution of the issue. He said Pakistain would continue to extend moral, political and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmire.
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02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The Anti Terrorism Court Monday dismissed bail petitions of former CPO Rawalpindi Saud Aziz and SP Khurram Shahzad in Benazir Bhutto's liquidation case and declared former president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... an absconder who, if failed to appear before the court, would be branded a proclaimed offender.
The Anti Terrorism Court carried out a four-hour hearing on bail petitions of Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad and later announcing the verdict dismissed their petitions.
Earlier, the provisional challan ... list of charges ... of Benazir Bhutto murder case was submitted to the court.
Counsel of FIA told the court that former president Pervez Musharraf's name was included in the challan as defendant. All possible efforts were made to interrogate him (Pervez Musharraf) but not response came from him, he added. On this the court declared Pervez Musharraf an absconder.
The FIA Counsel further said that the nabbed police officials Saud Aziz and Khurram Shahzad had been acting on the orders of the then president Pervez Musharraf.
The challan also contained the forensic report of one of the Blackberry phones of Ms Bhutto. It said that Benazir Bhutto on the day of liquidation neither received nor made any phone calls on this phone after 3 pm.
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02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan ... who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker... Monday urging people to come out on streets as call for change was knocking at their doors, Geo News reported. Small bills will also be acceptable...
Addressing a public meeting outside Data Darbar, Imran Khan said the youth want to see the country as Quad-e-Azam's Pakistain.
"Come out on streets if you want to get justice and secure your rights," he emphatically urged the people. You gotta fight...for your right...to not paaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrty...
He said the case of Raymond Davis should be decided in Pak courts and that the American national should prove his innocence within the territorial boundaries of this country.
The TI Chief said that Islamabad and Raiwind had only been pretending to be in a fight with each other. "Their fighting is only a façade, actually they are just like brothers," he added. Okay, Mahmoud. I'll take a shot at you and you fall down and fake that you're bullet hit, okay?
Ha ha ha...I love you, man!
BANG...OWWWWWWW, dammit!
He said Pakistain could become a great nation, if corruption was eliminated from the country. Your bag money, sir.
Oh. Thank you. Very much.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Former US secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld revealed Tuesday that Saddam Hussein had a $60 million bounty on his daughters' head and also targeted ex-president George W. Bush's two daughters. The reward has probably expired, though.
[Dawn] Hezbullies leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday Egyptian protesters demanding the resignation of geriatric President Hosni Mubarak were changing the Middle East with their battle for "Arab dignity".
The Egyptians were inventing geometry and building pyramids when the Arabs were still wiping their bottoms with stones. Wait, that didn't come out right...
"Your movement will entirely change the face of our region for the interest of its own people," Nasrallah said in a televised address to a conference in Beirut, held to support the popular uprising in Egypt.
"You are going through the battle of Arab dignity, restoring the dignity of Arab people," he said.
The Lebanese were building walled cities and keeping written trade accounts while the Arabs were still wiping their bottoms with stones.
Egypt has been rocked by two weeks of protests demanding Mubarak, who has ruled for 30 years, step down before his term expires in September. Mubarak has refused, saying his departure would cause chaos in the Arab world's most populous nation, while saying he will not run for re-election in September.
Mubarak's government is suspicious of Hezbullies's links to Iran and backs the Shi'ite group's political rivals in Leb.
The Iranians were fielding armies with elephants while the Arabs were still wiping their bottoms with stones. Oddly enough, the Iranians feel no need to defend Arab dignity. Is it the elephants?
Last year an Egyptian court sentenced Hezbullies member Sami Chehab to 15 years in prison on charges of planning attacks in the country. Hezbullies said Chehab beat feet from jail last week in the chaos of the Egyptian uprising.
It's curious that the jail door magically opened just at the right time. No doubt it was a djinn or an ifrit or a dust devil.
Nasrallah told the Egyptian protesters that his group did not seek to intervene in their "internal business" or influence their decisions.
"But no man can gainsay the actions of a djinn or an ifrit or a dust devil."
But he praised their achievements, saying they were as significant as the 2006 war in which Hezbullies fought Israel to a standstill, and said he wished he could be with them in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- epicentre of the protests.
The rubble is still piled where Israel left it for Hizb'allah in 2006. Let us not wish the same victory on Egypt.
"What you have done is no less significant than the historic steadfastness the Islamic Resistance achieved in 2006 and the resistance in Gazoo in 2008," he said, referring to the Israeli military assault on Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-ruled Gazoo.
The rubble is still piled in Gaza where Israel left it for Hamas in 2008. Really, we do not wish the Egyptians a similar victory.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ISRAEL NN > [Israeli VPM] SHALOM: WAR IS BETWEEN THE WESTERN + IRANIAN BLOCS,
Yep, yessirree, you betcha ...
ARTIC > SHALOM also proclaims the Middle East is the most important Region in the World.
* SAME > [Nasrallah] HEZBOLLAH CHIEF: ISRAEL WILL BE LEFT MORE ISOLATED AFTER EGYPT UPRISING.
TOPIX > HEZBOLLAH: EGYPT UNREST WILL ISOLATE ISRAEL.
#5
Procopius: true as you stated. Nevertheless, one definition of "Arab" (linguistic based) is that anyone who speaks Arabic is Arab. For what its worth, many years ago in grad school I was taught your definition as the correct one.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Iran's elite military force, the Revolutionary Guards, denied on Monday that it is holding former FBI agent Robert Levinson as reported on some websites.
"Wudn't us. We don't do things like that."
"We deny the arrest of the FBI agent and if the Guards had nabbed an enemy, it would announce itself," the head of the Guards, commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, told news hounds, according to ILNA news agency.
Jaafari said news reports of Iran holding Levinson were nothing more than attempts by the Islamic republic's "enemies to find excuses and weaknesses" about Iran.
Mystery shrouds the fate of Levinson, who disappeared on Iran's Gulf island of Kish in March 2007.
US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Foster Dulles ... , have repeatedly called on Tehran to throw light on Levinson's disappearance.
Iranian officials have previously denied having any information about the missing American's whereabouts.
Jafari's denial came a day after a revolutionary court put three Americans on trial for spying against Iran.
Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal and Sarah Shourd went on trial more than 18 months after they were nabbed on the unmarked border with Iraq. Shourd was tried in absentia after she was freed and returned home last September on bail of around 500,000 dollars.
The Americans pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." in the court on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/08/2011 00:00 ||
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A New York television executive has been convicted of stabbing his wife to death and beheading her.
A jury found Pakistan-born Muzzammil Hassan guilty of second-degree murder in the 2009 death of Aasiya Hassan six days after she filed for divorce.
Hassan never denied killing her but said she had abused him and that he had acted in self-defence. He served as his own lawyer during the three-week trial.
Hassan, who founded a Muslim-oriented TV network, could face life in prison.
Prosecutors argued Hassan abused his wife and planned the attack in a hallway at Bridges TV, a satellite channel he set up in 2004 in an effort to counter negative portrayals of Muslims following the 9/11 terror attacks.
He was arrested in 2009 after he walked into a police station in the city of Buffalo, in upstate New York, and told officers his wife was dead.
Mrs Hassan, 37, had filed for divorce after enduring domestic violence, her lawyer told the Buffalo News newspaper in 2009.
The couple had been married for eight years and had two children.
She bled out while he was cutting off her head, Dave UK. The medical examiner's testimony was that she must have been in agony. The other article posted on this story links to the Buffalo News, and has links to all the stories written since Mr. Hassan turned himself in. A classic abuser, completely unaware that he was anything other than eminently reasonable. His children from a previous wife testified against him. The therapist they went to for marriage counselling, whom he called as a witness, testified against him. His own diary, which he introduced into evidence, testified against him, and he didn't realize it.
And now all that money donated to create a Muslim satellite channel will have been wasted. How sad.
#12
at what point could such action be considered premeditated?
Apparently in New York, "murder in the first degree" is only for killing police and such, and carries the death penalty (I think). If it's just a generally premeditated killing, it's "murder in the second degree", carrying a sentence of 15 years to life imprisonment.
#13
OK, perhaps being facetious is not always the right thing.
If you don't put a smiley or a /sarcasm indicator, it's highly likely I won't catch on, Dave UK. Sorry -- it's my handicap, not yours.
So he decapitated her after she was dead?
I believe it was the decapitating that killed her, not the stab wounds, Snowy Thing. Although perhaps she might have died of the multiple stab wounds had he not started sawing at her neck...
#15
Thank you TW, interesting how the different states do things just a little bit different; I too read that as still alive. Garbage brutes his wife and stops by the station to fill out the paperwork.
Yet during his two-hour closing statement, never once did Hassan mention the killing of his wife. Instead, his closing remarks echoed a she-started-it theme.
He repeatedly told jurors that the prosecution was building its case solely based on vindictive falsehoods spread by his wife in the last two years of their marriage. "All these people are hearing stories," he told the jury in closing arguments. "They want you to believe stories are evidence. They have no witnesses."
He attributed the piles of police complaints and medical reports indicating domestic abuse to prior disputes and arguments that he said led his wife to retaliate against him.
He also said the judge, prosecutors, police officers and medical professionals who testified against him did so based on their preconceived notion that only women can be abuse victims. In closing arguments, he referred to their adherence to a "religion of patriarchy."
He told jurors he stands against this gender-biased model of "false beliefs" the way Gandhi stood against colonialism, the way former President Ronald Reagan stood against communism and the way one-time South African President Nelson Mandela stood against apartheid.
#1
The media could do a lot to stop this kind of crap. They could do so by elevating the victim as an honorable girl or woman, leading a good and righteous life; and despising her killers as shameful people specifically because they murdered her.
The girl or woman's whole family should be shown in the ugliest light as primitive sub-humans, because they murdered a good, precious, and virtuous woman out of ignorance, fear and superstition.
The media is very skilled at elevating some and trashing others, if they choose to do so.
They should have given as hostile an interview as possible to this murderous man, criticized him for his hypocrisy in wearing clothes instead of animal skins as he worships his pagan mud idols.
Importantly, they should have a whole peanut gallery of Muslims to condemn him and other such brutes as "bad Muslims", who "shame Islam", with their "tribal behavior" and "incestuous marriages".
Yes, I know it is propaganda, but it is for a good cause.
#3
She was killed because she was "Too Western." That is why she was killed. Yes. The media could do a lot to get on board with the war against those who believe in this crap. Unfortunately, the lame stream media is agenda-driven and/or to too lazy to do an honest job of reporting.
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.
Hamid 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said on Monday he would accept the vote of the south to secede, hours before the release of final results of an independence referendum.
CAIRO (Reuters) -- U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday talks to resolve Egypt's crisis were making progress, but the main Islamist opposition in Cairo said it could quit the process if protesters' demands were not met.
Doku 
Asif Ali 
Former US secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld revealed Tuesday that Saddam Hussein had a $60 million bounty on his daughters' head and also targeted ex-president George W. Bush's two daughters.
Hillary Clinton
