DOHA/KABUL: Taliban leaders living in Qatar have held no Afghanistan peace talks with US officials in the Gulf state for more than a year and see no prospect of any soon, Taliban sources say.
A team of envoys from the insurgent group flew to Qatar in early 2012 to open talks with the US government, which has laid a greater emphasis on negotiations before a handover of security to Afghan forces in 2014.
Among the most prominent members of the delegation in Doha is Tayeb Agha, the former chief of staff to the Talibans reclusive leader Mullah Mohammed Blinky Omar. But more than a year later, the negotiations held in March 2012 have not been followed by further meetings, Taliban sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Many of the Taliban leaders living in Qatar now appear to spend their time pursuing private family activities. Many can be seen at the shopping malls of the gas-rich Gulf Arab state with the little women, pushing trolleys loaded with merchandise and with their children in tow.
Domestic life in Qatar has to beat being a guerrilla in the hills outside of Kandahar...
There has been no contact from the US with us at all this year, said a Taliban source on the condition of anonymity. No date had been set to restart the talks, he said, declining to give any further details.
Doesn't sound like the leadership wants any talks, either, as long as Qatar keeps filling the shopping carts...
Talks among the United States, Pakistan and the Taliban about a possible Afghan settlement have made scant progress in the past few years. The Taliban suspended the talks in March 2012, saying Washington was giving mixed signals on the nascent Afghan reconciliation process.
Taliban had asked for the exchange of prisoners and recognition as a group, but as far as I know there have been no more talks, said Mohammed Himat, counsellor at the Afghan Embassy in Doha, told Reuters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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Azerbaijan -- Tajikistan and Great Britain signed an intergovernmental agreement on cargo transportation to Afghanistan through the territory of Tajikistan on Thursday, KyrTAG reported. The document was signed by Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi and UK Ambassador to Tajikistan Robin Jeremy Ord-Smith.
The document envisages the plan of withdrawing UK military equipment and personnel from Afghanistan through Tajikistan's territory.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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"Most of the Egyptian jihadists in Syria are not part of the Islamic movement in Egypt. They are independent, well-educated people with no financial or social problems; their motivation is based on true jihad that knows no borders and calls for the protection of Muslim women and children who are killed and raped on a daily basis in Syria."
The trip to Syria costs no more than the equivalent of $250, including visa fees and airline costs, Abu Rami told Al-Monitor.
"There is no way of assessing how many Egyptians are fighting in Syria, but there are at least a couple of hundred fighters," Abu Rami said.
He added, "We even resort to moving through the sewage system at times to avoid being detected by snipers."
In February, the Egyptian government broadcast on national television the names and photographs of 10 Egyptian "martyrs" killed in different conflict zones in Syria.
"There are also three Egyptian jihadists who were not listed in the official government count who had entered Syria through Lebanon and were martyred last February in a successful military operation in Homs, which led to the death of at least 400 officers and soldiers from the Assad regime, according to a statement released by the Syrian government itself," Abu Rami said.
There is no doubt that Skype has been the best method of communication between Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters and the Syrian diaspora trying to keep tabs on the situation on the ground.
[SEATTLEPI] Russia's President Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... has called the Boston Marathon kabooms a "disgusting" crime.
Putin has offered assistance in investigating Monday's twin bombings in Boston that killed three people and maimed more than 170, saying in a condolences note Tuesday that the international community should come together to fight terrorism.
He followed up on that Thursday while opening the Ice Hockey Under 18 World Championship in Sochi, Russia's Black Sea resort that will host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Speaking before the game of Russian and U.S. teams, Putin called for a moment of silence and offered condolences. He said that the fact that the Boston attack occurred during a major sports event made it "particularly disgusting."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 14:18 ||
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[WEEKLYSTANDARD] The Chechen president has apparently released a statement that blames the suspects' American upbringing for their alleged terrorist activity.
"Tragic events have taken place in Boston. A terrorist attack killed people. We have already expressed our condolences to the people of the city and to the American people. Today, the media reports, one Tsarnaev was killed as [police] tried to arrest him. It would be appropriate if he was locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! and investigated, and the circumstances and the extent of his guilt determined. Apparently, the security services needed to calm down the society by any means necessary," says Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, according to BuzzFeed.
"Any attempt to draw a connection between Chechnya and Tsarnaevs -- if they are guilty -- is futile. They were raised in the United States, and their attitudes and beliefs were formed there. It is necessary to seek the roots of this evil in America. The whole world must struggle against terrorism -- that we know better than anyone else. We hope for the recovery of all the victims, and we mourn with the Americans."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 14:18 ||
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#1
Let's see...
Chechens blow people up in Chechnia. Chechens blow people up in Russia. Chechens blow people up in America. I am sensing a bit of a disconnect in the Chechen president's argument.
#2
So Presidnet Kadyrov, if it isn't his biology than is it his secular or non-secular education? Can't be macro/pop culture because, well, Americans don't blow up kids at sports events - could it be their micro/local culture?
What is it Mr. President - liberalism, islam, college culture?
A North Korean man living in Australia claims that human flesh is served up to eat in the country's third largest city. Sung Min Jeong claims that in Chongjin -- a city on the tip of the North Korean coast -- a shopkeeper serves up human meat.
Jeong's interpreter said, "One of his strongest thoughts is ... if he didn't take steps to leave North Korea, he would've become a North Korean who ate human flesh."
That thought is what drove Jeong to leave his homeland and to escape to Sydney in March 2011.
It is not the first time reports of cannibalism have emerged from the secretive state. Fears that North Koreans are being forced to eat human flesh increased earlier this year following claims a man was executed for murdering his two children for food.
A source said, "While his wife was away on business he killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: 'We have meat.' But his wife, suspicious, notified the Ministry of Public Security, which led to the discovery of part of their children's bodies under the eaves."
Fears of cannibalism surfaced in 2003 too, amid testimony from refugees who claimed poor harvests and sanctions had resulted in children being killed and corpses cut up for food. According to reports, requests by the UN World Food Program to access "farmers' markets" where human meat was believed to be traded, were turned down by Pyongyang, citing "security reasons".
Those caught selling human meat face execution, but one source told the North Korean Refugees Assistance Fund, "Pieces of 'special' meat are displayed on straw mats for sale. People know where they come from, but they don't talk about it."
North Korea offered talks Thursday with South Korea and the United States, but laid out pre-conditions that Seoul dismissed as absurd and analysts said would do little to reduce soaring tensions. The demands laid out by the Norths main military body included the withdrawal of UN sanctions and a permanent end to South Korea-US joint military drills.
The Norths conditions were swiftly rejected by South Korea which, together with the United States, has made any talks conditional on the North putting its nuclear weapons programme on the table.
North Koreas demands are totally incomprehensible. Its absurd, foreign ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young told reporters.
South Koreas new president, Park Geun-Hye, has made tentative and conditional offers of talks, but the Norths initial response was to swat them away as a crafty trick.
Some analysts see the Norths engagement in a debate over dialogue no matter how unrealistic the conditions as a welcome shift from the apocalyptic threats that have been pouring out of Pyongyang. But others like Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group, ruled out any softening of Pyongyangs position and said those hoping for dialogue were being wilfully naive.
It's almost like Danny boy is upset that the missiles aren't already flying...
The North, Pinkston argued, had bound itself to a course that could only end with its recognition as a nuclear power a status that is anathema to the United States and its allies.
So what is there to even talk about? Pinkston said. The North is committed. Its burned its bridges. Any reversal could only be made at immense domestic cost to the regime.
And there is simply no way any US administration is going to sit down and confirm a change in the status quo with the North as a nuclear state, Pinkston said. Were still firmly on a collision course, and its not going to end well.'
The first step demanded by the Norths National Military Commission was the withdrawal of cooked up UN sanctions that were imposed after the nuclear test in February. North Korea has repeatedly cited the sanctions as a prime trigger for the current crisis.
Good. They're working. Tighten them up...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
'And there is simply no way any US administration is going to sit down and confirm a change in the status quo with the North as a nuclear state,' Pinkston said.
apparently he missed the last election and new Secc'ty of State
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/19/2013 10:17 Comments ||
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#2
...Have they asked for a pony?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/19/2013 14:04 Comments ||
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#3
China has begun using PLAN surface warfare vessels in lieu of CMS-SOA vessels to violet Japan's 12-mile territorial waters around the China-claimed Senkakus/Diaoyus; + has basically demanded that Japan stop scrambling JSDF fighters to fly over the same, i.e. over Chinese territory.
I SAY AGAIN THAT CHINA IS "PREPPING/LAYING OUT THE [coming]BATTLEFIELD" FOR A DE FACTO SHOOTING WAR AGZ JAPAN, + A LIKELY SUBSEQUENT OR FOLLOW=ON DIRECT MIL CONFRONTATION WID JAPAN'S ALLY THE USA.
THE US-VS-CHINA "BALANCE OF POWER/TERROR" IN EAST ASIA THRU CENTPAC.
"THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE".
The parallel crisis known as North Korea + Pudgy/KJU is about how for NOKOR to stop starving, reunify wid SOKOR + INDEPENDENTLY FROM OVERLORD CHINA, + WHILE SURVIVING CHINA'S ANTI-US GLOBAL AMBITION AS "POST-US", "WORLD #1".
Meanwhile ...
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > [BreitBart] THE SOON-TO-BE OFFICIAL US NATIONAL LANGUAGE - MANDARIN CHINESE.
D *** NG IT, DOES RADICAL ISLAM + GLOBAL NUCLEAR JIAHDIS + ANTI-US OWG SECULAR MARXIST-GLOBALISTS KNOW???
[WAYNE'S WORLD "THUMBS UP" here].
As one Nation-State weakens or delines, another(s0 rises.
* DRUDGEREPORT, CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Financial Times] CHINA DELOYING ANTI-SHIP MISSLE OFF TAIWAN.
DF-21D ASBMS for use primarily agz intervening US Navy's CVNS + BGS, Gator Boyz in the Taiwan Straits.
IN REALITY THESE ASBMS WILL LIKELY BE BACKED UP BY LR PLAAF AIRPOWER + 2ND ARTY NUKE-ARMED MISSLES AS A MATTER OF COURSE.
* Also from CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Telegraph.UK = CCTV] CHINA'S FIRST AIRCRAFT CARRIER "PREPARING FOR FIRST LONG-DUSTANCE MISSION".
"Show-the-Flag" overseas deployment may take it near JAPAN'S OKINAWA, as well as faraway GUAM.
IMO it once again shows that the latest North Korean crisis is actually China's + its desire to challenge US power-n-influence = position in the Pacific, at least to get the US out of East Asia + "First Island Chain" + WESTPAC-SOPAC, all the way AMAP AFAP to CENTPAC.
VERSUS
cHINA DAILY FORUM > US OKAYS VIETNAM'S REQUEST TO BUT P-3C "ORION" ANTI-SUBMARINE PLANES AGZ CHINA, i.e. agz PLAN Submarines.
India will likely approve given its on-going problems related to procurement + tech-sharing, joint dev of modern MilAssets. most notably vee France + espec Mama Russia.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > A PHILIPPINE MISSLE PROJECT? |[Pinoy Exchange] A PROPOSAL FOR THE PHILIPPINES: RESURRECT "PROJECT SANTA BARBARA".
Ostensibly an indigenous SRBM Tac Sys, but iff successful could open up the PHIL to greater possibilities in future i.e. Tactical, Strategic LRBMS???
[NY Times] By North Korean standards, the invective issued over the past week has bordered on civil. Instead of near daily threats of nuclear annihilation for the "nest of evil" in the United States and promises to "press the button," the North in recent days has grumbled over a "crafty ploy" and "cunning trick" by America and its allies to strip the North of its nuclear arsenal.
The United States and South Korea, meanwhile, have made a change of their own: putting a new focus on offering talks after weeks of meeting North Korean provocations with harsh warnings that included deploying nuclear-capable stealth bombers on a practice run over South Korea.
Security analysts in South Korea and the United States expressed cautious optimism this week that the shift in tone, however understated, is a sign that after weeks of escalating threats that raised fears of armed conflict, both sides might be ready to calm tensions.
"I wouldn't say the crisis has passed, but maybe we're in a less dangerous phase," said Evans J. R. Revere, a former State Department expert on Asia who is now senior director of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a consulting firm that specializes in Korea, China and Japan. "The possibility of a serious miscalculation is not as great as a few days ago."
He attributed North Korea's reduced bombast partly to what he called their position "at the top of the rhetorical escalatory ladder -- where do you go after you threaten to nuke Los Angeles, Austin, Texas and Washington? The place to go after that is to carry out your threats, and they are not in the position to do that."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
US SecState Kerry has formally rejected the DPRK's conditions as "unacceptable".
OTOH ... ...
* YONHAP NEWS > NORTH KOREA EYES NUCLEAR STATE LIKE PAKISTAN'S: EXPERT.
NOKOR amy desire to use its nuclear arsenal as bargaing leverage agz larger Regional, Global Powers.
CHINA???
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > [US] AIR SUPERIORITY: ADVANTAGE OVER ENEMY SKIES FOR 60 YEARS, as leading post-Cold War to post-Superiority "Air Dominance" [Air-Space = AeroSpace] which would allow US MilAssets to strike anywhere, any time, under any condition where Amer's enemies can't do anything about it or agz it.
THEN ALONG COMES A SEQUESTER ....THE END???
* TOPIX > [CFR.org] WILL SEQUESTER LEAD TO MORE ISOLATIONIST US FOREIGN POLICY?
Sniff, sniff, is there no love for ANTI-US OWG-NWO + ANTI-US "GLOBALISM"???
US Politicos wanna commit the US while not knowing whats going to happen or how much sovereign authority the US M-U-S-T give up to the OWG + various "Unions", etc.
* SAME > CHINA WHITE PAPER OMITS "NO FIRST USE" NUKE PROMISE, i.e. strategic = preemptive military nuclear strikes.
OOOOOOOOOPPPPSIES, HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?
You can see Xi Jinping + PLA Boyz doing a Macaulay Calkin face, can't ye???
* SAME > [NYT] CONTINUED CUTS COULD SLOW US MARINE MOVE TO GUAM.
China won't mind, espec iff US Debt woes, Sequester leads to USFJ + USFK standown - 'Tis making Guam + WESTPAC skies, seas safe or safer for the Motherly PLA Airborne + LR Submarine, Commando Ops.
PARK 'EM + THEN LEAVE 'EM THERE, DANO!.
* SAME > FUTURE CUTS MAKE INTELLIGENCE FAILURES MORE LIKELY, TOP US INTEL OFFCIAL SAYS.
--------------
The good news for America = Amerika is ....
* TOPIX > [Globe-n-MaiL] AS US GROWS MORE LATINO, IT WON'T MOVE AWAY FROM CANADA.
MUCHO BIENEDA, AAAYYYY!
Unless I've missed something, as per my earlier RB Post won't this mean than future Hispanic-Latino Amerika will be speaking MANDARIN CHINESE.
D *** NG IT, DO THE ISLAMOMERIKANS KNOW?
CHINESE-SPEAKING HISPANICS-LATINOS WHOM ARE ALSO MUSLIMS + ARABIST???
SLY STALLONE'S "DEMOLITION MAN" = IN FUTURE AMERICA + CALIFORNIA, "EVERY RESTAURANT NOW IS A TACO BELL", that FYI SSSSSHHHH ...CCCCCCCC also serves authentic islam-acceptable Chinese food in Arabic + Hispanic???
A majority of Chinese businesspeople with investments in North Korea are apparently having problems recovering their money and being forced to leave the country.
That's a sure way to make Beijing unhappy...
Citing a Chinese businessman in the Chinese town of Dandong near the border with North Korea, the Chongqing Daily reported on Thursday that close to 100 Chinese investors have become long-term tenants at hotels in downtown Pyongyang as they wait to recover investments. A majority has been unsuccessful so far, and some have even been deported, according to the newspaper.
As the number of overdue payments increases at North Korean trading companies, deals based on credit have declined markedly in Dandong. Merchants now demand cash before handing over goods.
So the Norks understand capitalism after all...
Last August, one incident brought attention to the perils of investing in North Korea. Fertilizer and mineral producer Xiyang Group, based in Liaoning Province, was forced out of North Korea and had to forfeit its 240 million yuan investment in an iron mine.
"The biggest mistake Xiyang Group made was to ignore the dangers of investing in North Korea," said Jiao Qiming, head of a Chinese trading company in Dandong. "Once a dispute occurs, it is impossible to beat the North Korean government."
At present, some 2,000 businesses are operating in Dandong along the North Korea border and about 500 of them trade with the North.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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Serbia and Kosovo have failed to agree on a plan to pursue the ethnic partition of Serbia's former province on Thursday, casting doubt on Belgrade's prospects of getting approval to start talks on joining the European Union in June.
After 14 hours of talks in Brussels between the Serbian and Kosovo prime ministers, called a make-or-break session, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said differences remained between the two sides.
She said however that she held out hope there could yet be an agreement before an EU ministerial meeting on Monday at which she is expected to make a recommendation on whether Serbia is ready to start negotiations on joining the EU.
Agreement between Serbia and Kosovo is seen as crucial to Belgrade's chances of securing approval at a June summit to begin talks on joining the 27-nation bloc.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's secession and has retained de facto control over a small, Serb-populated pocket in north Kosovo, an ethnic partition that frequently breaks into violence and that the EU says must end.
Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said he had accepted proposals for normalizing relations with Serbia that Ashton had put forward but that Serbia had rejected them.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said the Ashton's plan was much more acceptable to Belgrade than earlier proposals had been. He said, "It is clear however that Pristina is not ready to go to the very end and that it is obstructing these talks ... and even threatens to resolve the issue of northern Kosovo with some other methods."
The impasse over north Kosovo has frustrated NATO's plans to further cut back its peace force in Kosovo, which now numbers 6,000 soldiers.
In a major change in official policy, Serbia's ruling coalition has offered to recognize Pristina's authority over the north, but wants autonomy for some 50,000 Serbs living there.
The EU has brokered talks between Kosovo and Serbia for the past six months, but they have run into trouble over the powers Serbs would wield, particularly over policing and courts. Serbia also wants a guarantee that Kosovo's future army will not be allowed to enter the north.
Oh no. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry doesnt think the terrorist attack in Benghazi is important anymore, but placated lawmakers who still want answers from the Obama administration.
Kerry testified Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee for the first time since becoming secretary in a hearing called, Securing U.S. Interests Abroad: The FY 2014 Foreign Affairs Budget.
U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told Kerry he believes Americans were lied to about Benghazi by the Obama administration and asked Kerry if he was committed to answering the many questions still surrounding the events before, during and after the attack on the U.S. Consulate.
Kerry pooh-poohed all Rohrabachers concerns, but promised to give Congress whatever it is they think they havent already been given.
Kerry actually said about a terrorist attack that got four American diplomats killed:
Well, before I became Secretary, Congressman, I believe I got the answers to who was evacuated and had a pretty good sense of what happened there. But now that I am the Secretary and I am responsible to you and the Congress, I can promise you that if youre not getting something that you have evidence of or you think you ought to be getting, well work with you. And I will appoint somebody to work directly with you starting tomorrow, with you, Mr. Chairman, to have a review of anything you dont think youve gotten that youre supposed to get. Lets get this done with, folks.
Lets figure out what it is thats missing, if its legitimate or if it isnt. I dont think anybody lied to anybody. And lets find out exactly, together, what happened, because we need we got a lot more important things to move on to and get done. [Emphasis added].
Watch Kerrys comments here via NRO Videos on YouTube
#1
The merits, or lack of same, as per any linkage between "Fast-N-Furious I" [Mexican Drug Cartels] to "Fast-n-Furious II" [post-Uncle Muammar/Libyan Arms smuggling to Libyan + Syrian, etc. Islamist Rebels + Allied MilTerr Groups] to the attack + death of US Ambassador Stevens, etal. to ??? has N-O-T been answered ... PROVEN OR DISPROVEN.
[FOXNEWS] Four months ago, the Boston bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed yesterday in a shootout with police, uploaded to his YouTube Channel an eight-minute lecture by the radical Australian Mohammedan preacher Sheikh Feiz Mohammed denouncing the Harry Potter movies for glorifying and promoting paganism.
"How can you allow your children to watch this?" the sheikh demands in the table-thumping lecture. "This film glorifies, magnifies, promotes paganism...What does Harry Potter do and his devilish schoolmates, what do they do? They cast spells, learn magic, brew potions, learn how to tell the future...And this is called harmless."
He condemns the Harry Potter movies for being built on shirk -- the sin of worshipping someone or something other than Allah.
Tsarnaev also uploaded Russian-language videos of the preacher Abdel al-Hamid al-Juhani, who has been influential on Jihadists in Chechnya and the Russian Caucusus.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 14:18 ||
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#3
Sounds like you've never read them. I recommend them highly. It takes a pretty good writer to keep juvenile readers interested in seven books up to 800 pages long.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 16:33 Comments ||
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#4
The funny thing about religious nutballs condemning Harry Potter is the implication that "magic" is real, which is why it must be shunned.
Posted by: DJ Curtis C ||
04/19/2013 20:48 Comments ||
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#5
For those who like Harry Potter but found the lack of internal logic implausible and/or frustrating, let me recommend the fanfiction Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.
I thoroughly enjoyed the originals, most of which we have in hard cover, but found Methods of Rationality much more satisfying, once I got into it.
#6
Admittedly, the J.K.Rowling books are not high art, they are great fun, and ever so much better than the preachy romance novels that is most of what children and young adults see nowadays.
[ONLINE.WSJ] Except that this was Moslem terrorism, inspired by the usually gruesome vids available on YouTube, the anti-Americanism (and by extension, anti-Westernism) that's been fostered since early in the Cold War, and the desire to belong to something bigger than themselves. Before the fetish with Islam, the followers believed in Communism or Naziism or whatever man on horseback was current where they lived.
Chechen nationalism wasn't Islamic when it first blossomed in 1991, but it was brutal. Djokar Dudaev wasn't a devout Moslem. But once the movement fell under the sway of the Salafists, and particularly Shamil Bashaev, it plumbed new depths of brutality in homage to Allah. Highlights included shelling a maternity hospital, the Nord Ost theater incident where they took an entire audience hostage and had to be gassed out, and of course the atrocity at Beslan, which was easily as depraved as anything done by Nazis.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 13:54 ||
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#1
This Artic now begs the question - WAS SOMEBODY(S) HIGH ON THE CHECHEN LIST OF TO-BE-ASSASSINATED/BOOMED RUNNING OR OBSERVING THE BOSTON MARATHON UNBEKNOWNST TO US AUTHORITIES???
#3
Chechen Nationalism as you refer to it did not blossom in 1991, it is 200 years old. A little research on the first Shamil Basaev might be informational.
The second and modern Shamil Basaev was a MERCENARY. He fought with the Russians in the Abkhaz war. When the old guard was killed off (Basaev, Alaev, Maskhadov, etc.), radical foreign fighters found santuary in the Mtn.s of Chechnya and these inidviduals brought a fundamentalist Islam into a leaderless vacuum with a population of unemployed angry kids who were raised in a decade of warfare. Brutality goes both ways, I wouldn't exactly call the Russian's the "nice" guys then or now.
It seems a lot heavy on the, rather thin, Chechen ethnicity aspect of these scumbags and not enough on the radical Islamic ideology, which is nationless and the real driver, IMHO.
[Dawn] Former president General (retd) Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... 's farmhouse in the suburbs of Islamabad is likely to be declared a sub-jail in the wake of a high level meeting at the Presidency on Thursday night.
The decision to declare the Chak Shahzad farmhouse as a sub-jail is set to end the bizarre cat and mouse chase to arrest the former military ruler.
However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... there was no official word from the government yet confirming the decision.
Sources told DawnNews that the meeting at the Presidency was attended by caretaker interior and law ministers who briefed President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... about the situation arising out of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision to cancel the bail of Musharraf in Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case.
Police waited all day from higher authorities whether to arrest the former general as the IHC had also taken notice of Musharraf's escape from the premises of the court after the cancellation of bail.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics...... Musharraf hold up at his farmhouse residence under tight security made it impossible for the police to arrest him. A large number of local and international media remained outside the residence following the high drama.
All the roads leading to Musharraf's residence were blocked by law enforcement agencies.
Earlier in the day, he was whisked away from the IHC premises with the help of his private security guards moments after his bail plea was denied by the court.
His return to his residence was also cleared to ensure that police can not arrest him on his way back.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] The All Pakistain Moslem League (APML) has said its chief retired Gen Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... will accept whatever decision the Supreme Court takes on Friday about his arrest.
Speaking at a presser after the Islamabad High Court rejected the former military ruler's plea for bail before arrest on Thursday, APML secretary general Dr Mohammad Amjad denied that Gen Musharraf had fled from the court and said he had been taken to his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad only to protect him from agitated lawyers on the court's premises.
"The Supreme Court is our last hope and we believe that it will provide justice to Gen Musharraf and, if not, he will surrender himself," he said.
The escape of the former president from the court has raised many questions about the role of the caretaker set-up and its failure to arrest him soon after the rejection of his bail plea by Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC.
"After the court's decision no police came to take Gen Musharraf into custody and some agitated lawyers tried to attack him.
Therefore, he was taken to his farmhouse," Mr Amjad said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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They're gonna start chucking shoes at him real soon now...
ISLAMABAD: Major political parties in the Upper House of parliament on Thursday, while holding former dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf responsible for the ongoing terrorist activities, and chastising him for abrogating constitution twice, disgracing judiciary and handing over Dr Aafia Siddiqui to the US, urged exemplary punishment to him.
The ANP, PPP-P and PML-N senators appreciated the decision of the Islamabad High Court against Musharaf, but regretted that instead of arresting him, the state security agencies helped him reach his farmhouse safely. The House was informed that there were two types of laws in the country, one for civilian and another for the armed forces. They noted that under civilian law, two sitting prime ministers were sentenced by the court, but under armed forces law, Musharraf was given safe passage instead of being arrested for his alleged crimes.
Some senators questioned why Rangers and commando escorts were given to Musharraf, while security for political leaders, who they said faced real threats and were being killed during political campaigns, was withdrawn. Senator Zahid Khan said that an elected prime minister was given a 30-second sentence and was sent home, but massive security was given to the dictator. "Why these double standards for civilian and military personnel," he questioned. Senator Khan said Musharraf's escape from the court is a shameful act and the world will question us over it.
PPP leader Senator Raza Rabbani regretted that a dictator who had arrested an elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and disgraced the judiciary was allowed to go home under tight state security. He said the interim government must ponder why Musharraf was given so much security. Saeed Ghani of the PPP said Musharraf is responsible for the ongoing attacks on political leaders. He should be given punishment, but at the same time his associates should not be left free. He expressed his astonishment that the courts granted bail before arrest to Musharraf before his arrival.
Speaking on the occasion, PML-N's Senator Mushahidullah said the "crime list" of Musharraf is too long, saying he was involved in the killing of Akbar Bugti, Benazir Bhutto, handing over of Aafia Siddique to the US, Lal Masjid operation, taking the country to war. Today, he said some people are giving statements against Musharraf, but they were with him in the past. "Today, Musharraf ran away from the court and may escape the country tomorrow, however, today's decision of IHC was historic," he observed.
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04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Rejecting speculations of outbreak of anarchy in the country, caretaker Federal Minister for Information Arif Nizami on Thursday said that the court orders to arrest former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf would be followed, come what may.
Musharrafs arrest will not plunge Pakistan into anarchy. Such apprehensions will prove to be false alarms, as they hold no water, said Nizami during a media talk. He said the orders of the Islamabad High Court would be implemented in letter and spirit.
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04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD: Senior lawyer of the Supreme Court Barrister Ahmad Raza Kasuri has said that the court cannot order arrest of former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf.
Speaking to media outside the farm house of Musharraf on Thursday, Kasuri said that the court can only reject or accept the bail. He added that Musharraf had appeared before the court under government security and returned with the same security. Talking about his consultative meeting with Musharraf, Kasuri said that the former president is calm and happy with confidence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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Iranian technicians have tripled the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges they have installed over the past three months to 600, diplomats warned Wednesday.
The high-tech machines arent yet producing enrichment uranium, the diplomats said in a CBS report, and some are only partly installed. But the report is worrisome, in that it is another sign of Irans move to develop nuclear weaponry, as the West fears.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/19/2013 08:44 ||
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#1
Good. More power to them. Hurry up!
That intensity and more delicate instruments will lead to trouble.
[An Nahar] The key Syrian National Coalition rebel grouping on Thursday slammed Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , saying an interview he gave a day earlier showed the embattled leader's "isolation from reality."
The opposition Coalition said Assad's interview with Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
"revealed his isolation from reality and blindness to the corruption and devastation and bloodshed that he has wreaked."
Assad's "approach is like that of tyrants before him," it said, pointing to "his claims of control and denial of the other and the absence of reality and proposal of solutions that bear no relation to the crises."
On Wednesday Al-Ikhbariya news channel broadcast an interview with Assad in which he warned that the West would pay a heavy price for what he called its support of al-Qaeda.
"The West has paid heavily for funding al-Qaeda in its early stages in Afghanistan. Today it is doing the same in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a heavy price in the heart of Europe and the United States," Assad said.
Assad did not spell out how he believed the West was supporting al-Qaeda in Syria. The United States and EU countries have been loathe to fulfill rebel requests for arms for fear they might fall into the hands of jihad boys.
He also warned that a defeat of his government would spell the demise of Syria.
"There is no option but victory. Otherwise it will be the end of Syria, and I don't think that the Syrian people will accept such an option," he said.
"The truth is there is a war and I repeat: no to surrender, no to submission."
And he criticized the opposition, which has much of its leadership living in exile outside Syria.
"How can you be patriotic if you've fled?" he said.
In response, the Coalition insisted it was "a representative body for all Syrians, emerging from their revolution and their sacrifices and their will."
"It derives its existence and legitimacy solely from this revolution," it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
They're just peeved because so far he has managed to stay isolated from them.
[An Nahar] Iran's army "alone" is able to destroy Israel, army commander General Ataollah Salehi said on Thursday, responding to boasts by the Jewish state that its military that could attack its archfoe on its own.
"Our message to this illegitimate regime (Israel) is the same, we do not need to utilize all of Iran's military forces," Salehi said on the sidelines of the Islamic republic's annual Army Day. "The army ... alone is able to destroy Israel."
His comments come after Israeli chief of staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz on Tuesday said the Jewish state's military was capable of attacking Iran on its own without foreign support.
Asked in an interview on public radio if the military could wage attacks on Iran "alone" -- without the support of countries such as the United States -- Gantz replied: "Yes, absolutely."
Israel believes the Islamic republic, which has issued many bellicose statements about the Jewish state, is working to achieve a military nuclear capability and has not ruled out a military strike to prevent this happening.
Iran denies it is developing an atomic bomb and says it needs its nuclear program of uranium enrichment for peaceful medical and energy purposes.
Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole nuclear-armed state, albeit undeclared.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
As said times before, 9-11 + GWOT = WAR FOR OWG-NWO = as much an Inter-Muslim struggle for dominance as between the US + Radical Islam + other. Shia Rising Iran desires to replace the Sunni Saudis as "Keeper of Islam's Holy Places" + Sword-Defender of the Faith, etc, + that the future OWG Islamic Caliphate = Global Islamic Super-State/Superpower be Shia-centric iff not outright Shia-controlled.
Technically speaking, iff Iran can indeed unilater destroy Israel, such an event would be immeasurable in promoting Shia Iran + Shia Islam as the [post-Saudi]future + centre of the Faith.
Thusly, IRAN = NORTH KOREA = "NEEDS NUCLEAR WEAPONS" TO EXISTENTIALLY SURVIVE + PROPAGATE, DESPITE ANY PCORRECT RHETORIC TO THE CONTRARY.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN DEFENCE OFFICIAL: US WARSHIPS PUSHED BACK BY IRAN'S BALLISTIC MISSLE POWER.
Besides Nukes, makes me wonder iff Iran procured DF-21 ASBMS from North Korea whom in turn got 'em from China???
Lest we fergit, Iran's strategy is to contain or isolate any US or US-led Coalition invasion force outside of the Persian Gulf AFAP ASAP AMAP ALAP, where the same can be attacked by LR TacAir or Nuke-armed BMS, Subs, etc. while preventing or minimizing the effects of any Mushroon Clouds to Iran proper. IOW, THE MULLAHS DO CARE ABOUT HAVING TO DETONATE ANY NUKES-WMDS ON IRANIAN SOIL TO DEFEAT AN EXTERNAL/ENEMY INVASION FORCE.
* SAME > [Farsi News Agency = FNA] IRGC COMMANDER: ARABS DOING HEAVY SPENDING TO CHANGE FATE OF SYRIA, LEBANON [agz Iran], an on-going effort which has or will fail in the end.
[LATIMES] Secretary of State John F. Kerry implored Congress on Thursday not to impose tough new sanctions on Iran, warning that such a move could disrupt diplomacy over Tehran's disputed nuclear program at a delicate moment.
Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry said that because Iran is two months away from an election, new U.S. economic penalties could become an inflamed political issue and reduce the chances of a deal to curb the nuclear program.
"There's an enormous amount of jockeying going on, with the obvious normal tension between hard-liners and people who want to make an agreement," he told committee Chairman Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). "We don't need to spin this up at this point in time.... You need to leave us the window to try to work the diplomatic channel."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
The Iranians are MASTERS at stall tactics.
Yes John, they are just getting ready to agree to your terms. But they need more time. NOT!
#2
Make a secret trip to Teheran and plead for cooperation against global warming, Jawn. Just like you did with the Chinese.
I know you can do it. Now Git!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/19/2013 2:25 Comments ||
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#3
Well, Kerry does have a point. Sanctions havent slowed the Iranian centrifuges. The only results so far have been a convenient foil for Tehran to foment anti-West sentiment and to provide fuel for a prolific Black Market. But the real objective, of course, is sanctions allow Obama to pretend hes actually doing something.
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi says the country has significantly developed its capacity to ship oil overseas despite illegal US-led sanctions.
So he says...
Speaking to Press TV on Thursday, the Iranian oil minister said, "I can tell you today that today we have to keep ability to transport the oil shipments more than the capacity we had even prior to the sanctions."
"We have no problem in this regard. And we have other customers and, in fact, it's not possible to ignore us in the global market. If Europeans do not purchase our oil, we have also imposed sanctions on them. We have other customers today and more than 60 countries today, in fact, are purchasing our petrochemical and oil products and derivatives," he added. "So we have our presence. We have maintained our presence in the market."
Qasemi noted that despite the US-led sanctions on Tehran, the country overhauled its oil industry by developing its shipping industry and expanding its oil market.
The official said that Iran has increased the national revenues from the sale of non-oil products and managed to cut its dependence on oil revenues in its national budget.
The West's economic restrictions have failed to undermine the Iranian energy sector because domestic contractors overtook Western energy giants like Royal Dutch Shell and Total, he said.
The oil minister added that Iran is also set to boost its natural gas revenues by expanding the South Pars gas field and exporting to regional countries and those in Europe.
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Kuwait has come through with the $300 million it pledged towards aid for stricken Syrians at a January donor's conference, the emirate and the United Nations said Thursday.
"We are ... matching our words with our deeds," Kuwait ambassador Dharar Abdul-Razzak Razzooqi told reporters in Geneva, detailing how the cash had been split between nine UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross.
"We hope that other (countries) will come and fulfil the pledges that they have made at the Kuwait conference," he added.
The donor conference resulted in some $1.5 billion in pledges of aid -- of which $520 million was specifically to help people trapped inside Syria, with the rest going to help the nations hosting refugees. However, before Thursday, only about 30 percent of the promised cash had come through.
Kuwait's contribution brings the funding level of the January pledges to around 50 percent, according to the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA.
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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.
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
A North Korean man living in Australia claims that human flesh is served up to eat in the country's third largest city. Sung Min Jeong claims that in Chongjin -- a city on the tip of the North Korean coast -- a shopkeeper serves up human meat.
North Korea offered talks Thursday with South Korea and the United States, but laid out pre-conditions that Seoul dismissed as absurd and analysts said would do little to reduce soaring tensions. The demands laid out by the Norths main military body included the withdrawal of UN sanctions and a permanent end to South Korea-US joint military drills.
North Korea
A majority of Chinese businesspeople with investments in North Korea are apparently having problems recovering their money and being forced to leave the country.
Pervez 
President Asif Ali 
Iranian technicians have tripled the number of uranium enrichment centrifuges they have installed over the past three months to 600, diplomats warned Wednesday.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[LATIMES] Secretary of State John F. Kerry implored Congress on Thursday not to impose tough new sanctions on Iran, warning that such a move could disrupt diplomacy over Tehran's disputed nuclear program at a delicate moment.
Kuwait has come through with the $300 million it pledged towards aid for stricken Syrians at a January donor's conference, the emirate and the United Nations said Thursday.
