Egyptian military officials finalizing plan for combating smuggling from Sinai; last protesters dispersed from Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
Egypt is considering establishing a 5km.-deep buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported Sunday, quoting high-level Egyptian security sources.
Egyptian military officials are finalizing a plan to combat smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into the strip, the report said, adding that heavy excavation equipment had already been moved into the border town of Rafah. The equipment is capable of destroying tunnels up to 20 meters below surface level.
Israel Radio reported this week that Egypts army is planning to destroy all tunnels within 14 km. of the border.
Another high-level army source told the Egyptian daily that Cairo is studying the possibility of modifying the peace treaty with Israel regarding the number of Egyptian troops allowed in Sinai. An Israeli source, however, told the AFP news agency that Egypt has submitted no such request.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at Sundays cabinet meeting that Israel would consider a request to modify troop levels, but that he sees no reason for the peace treaty to be substantially modified otherwise.
On Saturday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would not likely approve additional Egyptian troops in eastern Sinai, despite reports in The Economist that he had said it is in Israels interest to do so to help bring order to the restive area.
Egypt is considering establishing a 5km.-deep buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, the Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported Sunday, quoting high-level Egyptian security sources.
Egyptian military officials are finalizing a plan to combat smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into the strip, the report said, adding that heavy excavation equipment had already been moved into the border town of Rafah. The equipment is capable of destroying tunnels up to 20 meters below surface level.
"Mahmoud! We have to go down to 30 meters!"
"Oh, Achmed, my aching back! That's a lot of sand to move!"
"Shaddup and start digging!"
Israel Radio reported this week that Egypt's army is planning to destroy all tunnels within 14 km. of the border.
Another high-level army source told the Egyptian daily that Cairo is studying the possibility of modifying the peace treaty with Israel regarding the number of Egyptian troops allowed in Sinai. An Israeli source, however, told the AFP news agency that Egypt has submitted no such request.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at Sunday's cabinet meeting that Israel would consider a request to modify troop levels, but that he sees no reason for the peace treaty to be substantially modified otherwise.
On Saturday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would not likely approve additional Egyptian troops in eastern Sinai, despite reports in The Economist that he had said it is in Israel's interest to do so to help bring order to the restive area.
#1
Damn those opressors of the poor Paleos!!! This is inhumane that the Palestinians are treated in this apartheid manner by those infernal Isra......what? This is the Egyptians? Oh well, never mind; nothing to see here.
[Tripoli Post] A new transitional government in Libya will take the lead in establishing security, therefore. the National Transitional Coucil, NTC, has ruled out any major role for foreign peacekeepers in the country after the fall of the dictator Muammar Al Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland... , according to top UN officials.
The decision, which has been detailed in high-level talks involving representatives of the Transitional National Council, UN officials and foreign governments over the past week, reflects the opposition's growing confidence in its ability to manage any security vacuum in the country.
The move has forced the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... to revise its own security plans for Libya. Before the rebels reached Tripoli last week, the UN leadership had reportedly approached Jordan and Turkey to see if they would head a multinational force to protect a large UN mission in Libya.
The plan - which would have formed part of a cease-fire agreement - has since been scrapped, so too, a proposal to deploy a small contingent of UN arms monitors to help control the movement of illicit arms.
A copy of the plan was disclosed earlier Monday by a blog that covers the United Nations.
Ian Martin, a special adviser to UN Said that the United Nations had made contingency plans for the deployment of unarmed military observers in the context of a cease-fire, "but subject to further developments, we are not now expecting a request for any United Nations military deployment."
According to a statement, Martin told those gathered that he was in preliminary discussions with the opposition leaders about a possible role for the United Nations in helping them develop their capacity to police Libyan cities, including Tripoli, that they have captured.
He said: "The challenge of bringing security out of the current complexity of old and new armies, militias and police, and then developing accountable security institutions for a democratic state, is a formidable one. It will require support from multiple sources, which Libya must chose."
In a press briefing at the UN Security Council, B. Lynn Pascoe, the UN undersecretary general for political affairs, told news hounds on Friday: "One thing that the TNC has made very clear is that they expect the United Nations to play a strong role in the post-conflict period. There is at this point no plans whatsoever to have any blue helmets."
Martin told the contact group that the United Nations and outside relief groups were finalising a "30-day action plan" to ensure the quick delivery of basic humanitarian supplies, water and food, and that the United Nations planned to return to Tripoli and other vital towns "in the coming days" to restart stalled relief programmes.
The UN secretary general, meanwhile, is expected to ask the Security Council to grant the United Nations a mandate to establish an "integrated advance mission" to support Libyan efforts on a series of fronts, Martin told the contact group.
Those include the efforts aimed at: Restoring public security and order and promoting rule of law; Leading inclusive political dialogue, promoting national reconciliation, and determining the constitution-making and electoral process; Extending state authority, including through the strengthening of emerging accountable institutions and the restoration of public services; Protecting human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... , particularly for vulnerable groups, and supporting transitional justice; and Initiating an economic recovery.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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National Transitional Coucil, NTC, has ruled out any major role for foreign peacekeepers in the country after the fall of the dictator Muammar Al Qadaffy
Ok yuuuz guys, PAY UP! g(r)om called this one yestuday at 7 ta one! LOSERS
#5
Ian Martin, a special adviser to UN Said that the United Nations had made contingency plans...
So in light of this totally unexpected development we are initiating our contingency plan. We like to call it Plan-B. It's very complex and, at this juncture, very difficult to explain in detail. But essentially it consists of holding meetings to develop a "30-day action plan" to define what an "integrated advance mission" actually does. BTW, what are they serving for lunch today Nigel? Salmon again!?! Blimey savages...don't they know I'm a special adviser!
[An Nahar] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... is expected to lift sanctions against Libya's ports and 22 economic entities including a clutch of oil companies by Friday, diplomats told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The EU reached an agreement in principle on Wednesday to remove the six port authorities from its sanctions list as well as 22 other entities, the diplomats said. Three or four oil companies will be de-listed, they said.
"It was agreed this morning," one diplomat said, adding that EU governments will formally approve the decision on Thursday and that the move will come into force when it is published in the 27-nation bloc's Official Journal on Friday.
The EU froze the assets of nearly 50 entities as well as the six ports to punish the regime of Moammar Qadaffy ...Megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... for its brutal repression of a revolt.
But rebels took control of Tripoli last week, effectively ending Qadaffy's 42-year iron grip on the country.
The rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) had asked the EU to lift the sanctions. The opposition also wants the international community to release billions of dollars in Libyan assets that have been frozen worldwide.
The EU must wait for a green light from the United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... to remove all the remaining sanctions against Libya because some were linked to punitive measures imposed by the world body, one of the European diplomats said.
The move to lift the sanctions coincides with an international conference on Libya, dubbed "Friends of Libya," a meeting that Gay Paree will host on Thursday with the participation of brass hats from across the world.
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09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... 's office defended on Wednesday a Libyan rebel commander who once reportedly led a jihadi group with ties to al-Qaeda, insisting Libya's revolution is not led by Islamists.
A bigwig in the Elysee told Agence La Belle France Presse that Sarkozy's senior own military aide had met Adbul Hakim Belhadj, the rebel commander who led the assault on Moammar Qadaffy ...Megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... 's bunker complex, and had no concerns about his affiliations.
Previously, Belhadj was reportedly "emir" of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group -- an Islamist guerrilla movement once allied to the al-Qaeda network -- and he was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in Malaysia in 2004 on suspicion of Death Eater activity.
After his arrest he was said to have been interrogated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency before being sent back to be tossed in the slammer in Libya.
Belhadj renounced violence while a prisoner of Moammar Qadaffy's government and was released in March 2010. This year he joined the revolution against the regime and is now commander of the rebel fighters in control of Tripoli.
His return to the frontline has raised concerns in some quarters that the revolution against Kaddafi, which was warmly supported by La Belle France and several other Western countries, might include un-democratic forces.
But the Elysee official, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , insisted La Belle France has no concerns about Belhadj nor about the National Transitional Council, the rebel political body now recognized as Libya's interim government.
"As it happens, the head of the president's military staff met him very recently, and was able to form the personal opinion of him that does not correspond at all to the accusations against him," he said.
The official did not say where the meeting took place, but last week Belhadj attended a conference of the Libya contact group in Doha, Qatar, and Sarkozy's military head of staff General Benoit Puga could have met him there.
"There is a very important distinction between practicing Mohammedans and Islamists who want to lead a jihad," the Elysee source said, insisting that the NTC was neither infiltrated nor controled by Death Eater elements.
"There may be cells but we are certain of one thing: They neither represent a threat nor a large slice of Libyan public. We are not worried," he said.
"There are a lot of fantasies. There are religious people in the NTC, but that doesn't make them Islamists."
When the Libya revolt erupted in March, Kaddafi and his son Seif al-Islam branded the rebels al-Qaeda operatives, an allegation firmly denied by the NTC and its supporters, who have promised to form a broad-based government.
A rebel front man in Tripoli has denied that Belhadj has a jihadi agenda, insisting that he shares the NTC's "moderate" vision of a democratic Libya.
Like al-Qaeda, the LIFG was formed by former Mohammedan volunteers who fought the Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Its leadership split from that of al-Qaeda, but its members have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Abd al-Hakim Belhaj, the commander of Tripoli's Military Council who spearheaded the attack on Muammar al-Qaddafi's compound at Bab al-Aziziya, is raising red flags in the West. Belhaj, whom I met and interviewed in March 2010 in Tripoli along with Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, is better known in the jihadi world as "Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq." He is the former commander of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a jihad organization with historical links to al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Egyptian al-Jihad organization. Does his prominent role mean that jihadists are set to exploit the fall of Qaddafi's regime?
[Yemen Post] In the strong clear sign of sectarian differences in Yemen, Sunni Mohammedans celebrated Eid holiday on Tuesday, on the same day as Soddy Arabia and gulf countries, while the pro Shite Houthis followed the Iranian example of fasting one more day and delaying Eid until Wednesday.
Houthis called on their followers in the northern Sa'ada province to fast Tuesday and not follow the regime's order.
A small number of residents listened to the Houthis call as the majority of Sa'ada province celebrated Eid on Tuesday.
Iran is one of the few Mohammedan nations that delayed Eid holiday to Wednesday and experts believe that Houthis are trying to differentiate themselves from the pro Sunni regime in Yemen.
Experts fear that the next war in Yemen is not a political one, but rather sectarian, like what is seen today in Iraq.
More than 60 percent of Yemenis are Sunni while less than 40 percent follow the Zaidi sect of Islam, a pro Shite sect.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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In many German cities, Muslim arbiters, or "peace judges," are settling criminal cases before law enforcement can bring the cases to court. That is undermining Germany's rule of law, according to a new book.
German law expert and former public TV investigative journalist Joachim Wagner presented a new book on Monday in which he speaks of a parallel justice system among the Muslim minority that undermines the rule of law in Germany.
The 236-page book, titled "Judges Without Law: Islamic Parallel Justice Endangers Our Rule of Law," looks into the problems the German judiciary faces when investigating crimes committed within Muslim communities or clans in Germany.
Wagner says the "parallel justice system" is maintained by Islamic arbiters-cum-imams who settle crimes out of court without the involvement of German prosecutors or lawyers.
The author examines several recent cases in which crimes within Muslim communities have been settled by Islamic arbitrators at the request of the families involved. Such "peace judges" act behind the scenes in line with compensation stipulations to be found in Shariah law.
According to Wagner, settlements reached by the Muslim mediators often mean perpetrators are able to escape long prison sentences, while victims receive large sums in compensation or have their debts cancelled. In return they are also required to make sure their testimony in court does not lead to conviction.
"When a serious crime is committed, German police step in to investigate what's happened," he said. "But parallel to that, special Muslim arbitrators, or so called peace judges, are commissioned by the families concerned to mediate and reach an out-of-court settlement. We're talking about a tradition that's more than a thousand years old in Muslim societies."
Wagner called the phenomenon "very common in Muslim neighborhoods in Germany."
Hassan Allouche, a Lebanese peace judge in Berlin, said such parallel justice systems can be found in almost all of Germany's big cities, and that Muslim families are happy to use its services.
"These families have their own set of Shariah-based laws," he said. "And it doesn't even come into their minds to follow the principles of the German legal system."
#2
"Muslim theologian Hamideh Mohageghi said she opposes accepting Shariah law as valid alongside German law, and that she does not understand why the peace judges still enjoy respect among Muslims in Germany."
Uh... the peace judges enjoy respect because they allow Muslims to get away with stuff, like for example sexual assault, wife beating, extorting money for the mosque and a few other things.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/01/2011 8:52 Comments ||
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Doesn't Germany have laws against practicing law without a license? They should be able to prosecute these so called "peace judges" in German courts and throw them in jail thereby effectively shutting down their little kangaroo courts.
[Iran Press TV] American author Paul Zarembka says 'serious outstanding issues' remain about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Zarembka told Press TV's U.S. Desk on Wednesday that he doesn't "think most of the questions have been adequately answered."
The author of 'The Hidden History of 9-11' says "one of the things that bothers me the most is about naming alleged hijackers and then the 9/11Commission doesn't make any effort whatsoever to prove that those people were really on the planes" at the time of the attack.
Zarembka added that he had also looked at insider trading before 9/11 and there's "serious outstanding issues there. There's also serious outstanding issues about what exactly happened at the Pentagon as we now have witnesses who say the flight path of the plane coming into the Pentagon wasn't consistent with what the 9/11 Commission report said was the path of the plane. And therefore we raise doubts about whether there was a plane at all."
Zarembka continued, "I really don't know who the perpetrators are. I can't even speculate at who the perpetrators are but they don't have to be outside of the United States and they certainly don't have to be Arabs."
According to Zarembka, the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks "could very well be right in the United States, either inside or outside or partly inside and partly outside the United States government."
This article starring:
Paul Zarembk
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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"I really don't know who the perpetrators are. I can't even speculate at who the perpetrators are but they don't have to be outside of the United States and they certainly don't have to be Arabs."
Shona speaking gay Zukarian Anabaptists no doubt. They're always tangled in something.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/01/2011 12:36 Comments ||
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If someone pridefully takes credit for an atrocity I'm willing to take them at their word and destroy them. I won't even feel guilty about it if proof somehow came along proving they were full of crap.
If Mr Zarembka would like to name another target I'm all ears.
Israel's deadline to issue a formal apology to Turkey for the deaths of nine Turks during the May 2010 IDF raid of the flotilla ship the Mavi Marmara will coincide with the day the UN report on the incident is released, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday. The Palmer Commission report on the Mavi Marmara incident was expected to be released on Friday.
The expected Friday release date of the report came after Turkey rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's proposal that publication of the report be postponed for another six months. Release of the report has been delayed repeatedly since May 15, when it was first scheduled to be published.
"It is not remotely possible for us to agree to a six-month delay," Davutoglu said in an interview with Turkish daily Today's Zaman. "For us the deadline is the day the UN report gets released, or we resort to Plan B,"he added, failing to detail what "Plan B" referred to.
Issa being Issa and not giving up
The Justice Department's recent staff reshuffling can be seen as a result of the criticism of the botched gun tracking operation known as Fast and Furious, but it is unlikely to get the operation out of Congress' crosshairs anytime soon.
"We know we are being gamed and we think the time for the game should be up," House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa , R-Calif., told Fox News host, Greta Van Susteren.
Issa, along with Charles Grassley , R-Iowa, has lead the congressional investigation into the ill fated operation, and both he and Grassley agreed that there are still many unanswered questions.
"We have confidential sources that have shown us why the administration's representatives knew these weapons were going to the cartels. Not mostly, not maybe, but virtually all of 'em," and that is why Issa says they can't give up on the investigation.
Issa weighed in on the shakeup at the Department of Justice, which involved the demotion of ATF boss Ken Melson, hoping that some new blood might help the investigation move forward. He is hopeful that under a new U.S. attorney it can begin to go after those who were involved in the scheme. While Melson was cooperative and helpful during the investigation according to Issa, there was a need to have someone with independent eyes get to the bottom of Operation Fast and Furious.
But, the Oversight and Government reform committee will make sure that a few individuals aren't sacrificial lambs. "Unfortunately, one of the problems is some of the eyes watching are high up in Eric Holder's office and had a lot to do with this happening."
Issa told Van Susteren that the attorney general reached out to him for a conference call the same day as the staffing shakeup. He declined in order to meet in person next week when he returns to Washington.
"I do think we need to work jointly to get this investigation wrapped up with some satisfactory conclusions that we are not heading toward right now."
#1
Darrell's no fool, and as long as the Reps control the House, he's gonna dis-assemble this Obama house of cards. I won't be satisfied til Obama, January 20th 2013, has to pardon Eric Holder as he helicopters off the roof of the WH
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/01/2011 22:22 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Wednesday said that youth were the assets of the nation and their services would be utilised for community policing across the country.
"We have had good experience of youth policing in Islamabad and it is our endeavour to further avail their services in all major cities in collaboration with the local area police," he told media representatives here after Eid prayers and a visit to the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Mr Malik said that the country was facing multi-pronged challenges and added that the government was determined to curb lawlessness and tackle the issue of terrorism.
"Government will soon bring all the tossed in the slammerhard boyz before the public," he added.
Mr Malik said that a ban on riding double was lifted to provide relief to the masses on the occasion of Eidul Fitr.
He said that action against hard boyz and extortionists would continue.
Referring to attacks in Quetta and elsewhere in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , Mr Malik said that a handful activists of Lashkar-i-Jangvi and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) were alleged to be involved in lawlessness.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... has promised to work closely with China in the fight against terrorism, state media said, nearly a month after Chinese officials blamed an attack in the troubled far-western region on hard boyz trained in Pakistain.
Zardari made the comments during a meeting on Tuesday with Zhang Chunxian, the Communist Party chief of the restive region of Xinjiang, at the start of a trade expo in the capital, Urumqi.
His visit comes after officials in Kashgar, a city in south Xinjiang, said a stabbing attack in late July was orchestrated by members of the separatist "East Turkestan Islamic Movement" who trained in Pakistain before returning to China.
Xinjiang, a region torn by ethnic violence, borders Pakistain, and some members of the ethnic Uighur community opposed to Beijing's rule have sought refuge there.
Zardari said that Islamabad opposes any terrorist activities, Xinhua said in a report on Wednesday.
Pakistain and China are long-time allies, and in recent months Islamabad has leaned closer to China as its ties with the United States have deteriorated.
Yet China has its own concerns over Pakistain's stability as it struggles to fight bad boy groups operating from its soil.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How's that friendship with Pakistan coming along, China?
IDF and IAF air defense divisions speed up deployment of rocket defense system to the day before the opening of the new school year.
The battery joined two others stationed in the South -- one outside Ashkelon and one near Beersheba -- which successfully intercepted a few dozen Gazook rockets during the recent escalation.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that by the end of 2012 Israel would have nine operational Iron Dome batteries, including thousands of Tamir interceptors. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.
Earlier this year, the US gave Israel $205 million to buy four more Iron Dome batteries.
Each battery consists of three launchers equipped with 20 Tamir interceptors and is reportedly capable of protecting an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometers.
IDF and IAF air defense divisions speed up deployment of rocket defense system to the day before the opening of the new school year.
The battery joined two others stationed in the South one outside Ashkelon and one near Beersheba which successfully intercepted a few dozen Gazan rockets during the recent escalation.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that by the end of 2012 Israel would have nine operational Iron Dome batteries, including thousands of Tamir interceptors. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.
Earlier this year, the US gave Israel $205 million to buy four more Iron Dome batteries.
Each battery consists of three launchers equipped with 20 Tamir interceptors and is reportedly capable of protecting an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometers.
Summary of piece in Middle East Research Project
With Assad weakening and active Kurdish interests in Iraq, Iran and Turkey, the Kurds of Syria are looking to leverage their numbers (about 10% of Syrian population) and strategic location (near the water and other resources) to gain more leverage in the anti Assad umbrella coalition. One of their demands is that the anti Assad coalition call their country "republic of Syria" rather than "Syrian Arab Republic". This mirrors, to some extent, the increased position the Berbers may ultimately have in Libya
the Arab League isn't going to like this but there isn't much they can do about it
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/01/2011 21:19 ||
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Long, long NYT piece on the young people driving the Syrian rebellion. A fair bit of history, some slice of life, a little analysis, and precious little insight at the end.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/01/2011 12:54 ||
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[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... stressed that the Lebanese government is dominated by Hizbullah and the Syrian regime that were behind the toppling of the cabinet led by former PM Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too..
"The President (Michel Suleiman) and the Premier (Najib Miqati) are the ones who supervise the formation of the government... they had a strong tendency to form a technocrat cabinet... However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... the result was the opposite," Geagea told al-Ekhbariya Saudi channel.
He said that when Leb disavowed itself from voting on the U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria and from the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... FMs closing statement proves that this cabinet is controlled by Hizbullah and Syria.
Asked if the Syrian-Lebanese relations forced Leb to take such decisions, Geagea said: "It's true that good relations link Leb with Syria, but aren't the people protesting in the streets (of Syria) also connected to the Lebanese?"
He ruled out that the Lebanese division over the situation in Syria will lead to local disputes, saying: "We can't but respect the people's will" in Syria.
"The crisis in Syria will end after a democratic free regime rises," he remarked.
The LF leader stressed that the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... -led opposition will escalate its parliamentary opposition to topple the cabinet.
"The government was paralyzed immediately after it began its tasks... The confrontations between the officials (in the cabinet) started and they are now trying to prepare for the Sep. 7 ministerial session," Geagea told al-Ekhbariya.
He stressed that the March 14 camp began its opposition before the Syrian people's uprising, noting that "the developments in Syria will affect the cabinet's term."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... general-secretariat coordinator Fares Soaid said Wednesday that Hizbullah is in a crisis and would put itself in a confrontation with the whole world if it continues to support the Assad regime.
"The Syrian regime is choking," Soaid told LBC TV network. "The international community is sending signals that the regime in Syria has collapsed."
It will not be able to adapt to the next stage, the March 14 official said.
Turning to the Syrian regime's ally Hizbullah, Soaid told LBC that the Shiite party is in a state of "confusion and trouble."
"If the party continues to stick itself fully to the Syrian regime and confront the revolution, it means it has taken the decision to confront the whole world," he said.
"Such a move not only puts the party in the circle of accusation but also Leb as a whole," Soaid added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/01/2011 00:00 ||
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Iran is reportedly weighing its options in Syria should the beleaguered government of President Bashar Assad succumb to the nationwide popular insurgency now approaching its sixth month.
The French newspaper Le Figaro reported this week that representatives of the Islamic Republic recently met with Syrian opposition figures in a European capital. The Iranians were reportedly trying to assess whether opposition figures are amenable to the current government staying in power should it institute long demanded reforms, or whether Assads ouster would be the only acceptable outcome.
Iran also hoped to gauge the relative strength of Islamist factions within the Syrian opposition, and the position a post-Assad government would have toward Tehran and Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah sent out feelers to the Syrian opposition to help ascertain whether it might work with the radical Shiite group, the paper reported.
Syrian opposition spokesman Mohammed al-Abdullah told the Al-Arabiya network this week that the Iranians have already begun initial efforts at mediating between Syrian authorities and the countrys opposition. Abdullah said he believes Iran is already preparing for Assads removal, or at least a scenario in which Assad remains in power but in a severely weakened position.
After months of tacitly supporting Damascuss crackdown, Irans rhetoric on Syria softened in recent weeks, with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referring recently to the legitimate demands of protesters and calling on Assad to respect peoples right to elect [leaders] and to achieve freedom.
Iran welcomed the Arab awakening until it arrived in Syria, Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington said on Tuesday. The violence and brutality in Syria has escalated to such a level that Iran has become forced to acknowledge it publicly.
Tehran has categorically denied widespread reports that it is training and arming Assads security forces, and that it is encouraging its Syrian allies to show no mercy in putting down the uprising.
If the Assad regime were to be succeeded by a regime in Damascus that was no longer interested in continuing Syrias patronage of Hezbollah, or was not interested in maintaining the Syrian-Iran alliance, it would be very difficult logistically for Iran to continue its patronage of Hezbollah, Sadjadpour told the Council on Foreign Relations. Damascus has really been Irans only regional ally since the 1979 revolution [in Iran]. If the Assad regime fell, it would be a tremendous blow to the Iranian regime. And, in particular, the crown jewel of the Iranian revolution is Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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The French newspaper Le Figaro reported this week that representatives of the Islamic Republic recently met with Syrian opposition figures in a European capital.
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.
A new transitional government in Libya will take the lead in establishing security, therefore. the National Transitional Coucil, NTC, has ruled out any major role for foreign peacekeepers in the country after the fall of the dictator Muammar Al 
Israel's deadline to issue a formal apology to Turkey for the deaths of nine Turks during the May 2010 IDF raid of the flotilla ship the Mavi Marmara will coincide with the day the UN report on the incident is released, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday. The Palmer Commission report on the Mavi Marmara incident was expected to be released on Friday.
[Dawn] Interior Minister 
Mr Malik said that a ban on 
Asif Ali 
Samir Geagea
Najib Miqati
