A news anchor for Moscow's English-speaking television network spoke out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a move of journalistic bravery Monday night.
Russia Today (RT) anchor Abby Martin spoke into the camera during her broadcast just seconds before cutting to commercial and said that she needed to express something "from her heart."
"What Russia did is wrong," Martin said. "I will not sit here and apologize or defend military aggression."
The Kremlin-funded network has been criticized for manipulating news in defense of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The network has been slammed for it's "shameless pro-Putin propaganda."
Martin condemned Russia for what she called a "terrible situation" and said she would "keep telling the truth as I see it" if that's what it takes to "prevent a full-blown cold war."
"Just because I work here, for RT, doesn't mean I don't have editorial independence," she said. "I can't stress enough how strongly I am against any state intervention in a sovereign nation's affairs."
Glenn Greenwald, who reported on Martin's segment Monday morning, pointed out the rarity of this type of journalistic independence, even in the United States...
#1
Glenn Greenwald, who reported on Martin's segment Monday morning, pointed out the rarity of this type of journalistic independence, even particularly in the United States...
#3
Someday, maybe our MSM will grow some cojones and show some courage in reporting. When you trumpet a particular agenda, you are not seeking the truth and you give up a free press--an essential of a free society.
[DAWN] IF they cannot guarantee no Death Eater violence during the negotiations phase, how will they be able to guarantee no violence after an agreement has been reached? It is a question that has from the outset haunted the very idea of talks with the TTP -- and one that keeps coming back each time it appears that dialogue may be attempted again. For Taliban apologists and their ilk, each time there is fresh violence -- even before the facts are established, as was the case yesterday after the attack on a local court complex in Islamabad -- either some unnamed third force or thinly veiled outside power is alleged to be behind the violence. The logic of this illogic: the TTP, an myrmidon group with the explicit agenda of the violent overthrow of the state, is actually in favour of peace and stability, while there are other unspecified elements that want to destabilise Pakistain. Atrocious as that suggestion may be, the obvious follow-up question is: why negotiate with the peace-loving TTP at all when the elements really bent on destabilising Pakistain are elsewhere?
Of course, advocates of talks cannot admit in public what they quietly accept in private: talking to the TTP is a policy rooted in fear. If the TTP is not engaged, according to this logic of wretched compromise, they will unleash far more murder and mayhem than the country has witnessed so far -- so better to talk to the TTP than to suffer the effects of blowback if the fight is taken to the TTP in its strongholds. Still, even from that original position of weakness that the quest for a deal suggests, the state can do at least two things to demonstrate negotiations will not be conducted on the TTP's terms. First, the government and its negotiating team should make a clear demand of the TTP now: if the TTP is not to be held responsible for any violence going forward, then the TTP leadership should make explicit which sub-groups and franchises it controls and directs and which are the elements that are beyond its control. Without that explicit and formal clarity, the wriggle room the TTP has to deny attacks linked to it would be unacceptably large.
Second, the government in a joint effort with the military leadership should continue to work on a plan to knock off the remaining TTP strongholds while also tightening security in the cities and towns where blowback can be expected. That would send the clearest possible signal to the TTP that negotiations are not the only option -- that the state security apparatus is able and ready to protect the citizenry and the state itself. If that resolve is shown and maintained, the TTP's room to manoeuvre will diminish greatly.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] REMEMBER the attack on the Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. district courts on March 18, 2013? Two jacket wallahs had entered the district courts, from the back, firing indiscriminately and lobbing hand-grenades.
Fast forward to March 3, 2014. A couple of suicide bombers entered the district courts in Islamabad, police say, from the back of the premises, shooting and throwing hand-grenades.
The attacks were strikingly similar in method, only this time the intelligence and security officials aren't really sure who or which group of the myriad of Pak hard boyz are behind it. The Peshawar district courts attack was attributed to the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain's Tariq Geedar; this time it is Ahrarul Hind -- a relatively new entrant -- which has grabbed credit for the Islamabad bombing.
Ahrar is a recent phenomenon. It had come under the spotlight on Feb 9 when it declared it would not accept any peace agreement short of complete enforcement of Sharia. On Feb 14, the group publicly rebuked "those who hope that peace would come to Pakistain through an agreement or ceasefire with the Taliban without the enforcement of Sharia. "That would be ridiculous," its front man Asad Mansoor had said in his first statement.
Founded by brothers from Hizro, Attock district in Punjab, the attack by Ahrar in Islamabad and the denial by the TTP front man, Shahidullah Shahid, is a grim reminder of just how complex the Pak bully boy scene is.
The attack came within hours of a roadside kabooming in Landi Kotal, Khyber tribal region, which targeted a Frontier Corps vehicle and that intelligence officials believe is the handiwork of the TTP's Mohmand chapter. It has once again prompted calls from those advocating talks for segregating the amenable and reconcilable hard boyz from those bent upon spilling blood and wreaking havoc.
There are said to be 43 Pak bully boy groups operating in North Wazoo alone. Counted together with groups operating in other tribal agencies and settled districts of the country, the total number of bully boy organizations in Pakistain comes roughly to 54. Foreign bully boy groups are said to be 12 in number. Most of the groups are operating under the TTP umbrella. Some are independent but officials believe the groups have ideological, tactical and logistical similarities.
Of the 54 groups, the government has peace agreements with two groups -- the Maulvi Nazir group in Wana, South Waziristan, and Hafiz Gul Bahadar's group in Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... , North Waziristan, which, depending how one interprets it, are holding. Other than them, there are two more groups which the government believes can be reconciled -- Khan Said alias Sajna (Waliur Rehman group) and Asmatullah Moawya (Punjabi group). Together, their total fighting strength, according to official estimates, should come to 1,300.
Then there are four other Punjabi Taliban groups, which officials believe, could be neutral, and are waiting to see how the cookie crumbles.
For the foreign bully boy groups, a peace agreement (like the deals) still holding, which can somehow ensure their continued stay in the region would be a better option than a military operation which would uproot them along with thousands of others. Their survival thus would hinge largely on a loose peace agreement. North Waziristan is their last stand.
But while most of these groups have taken sanctuary in the volatile tribal region, there are two other groups whose behaviour would also have an impact on any policy formulation. Miranshah is home to Hafiz Gul Bahadar and the Haqqani Network. So far, officials believe that both groups are neutral.
Gul Bahadar has a vested interest in talks and against an escalation in hostilities that could threaten 'peace' in his own region. The Haqqani Network would not want action that could, even temporarily, disturb their operations in Afghanistan. The TTP has served as their rearguard in Pakistain. But if there is action, it could easily slip across the border where officials claim they have a large swathe of territory available to operate from.
So even if the TTP is engaged in talks and their claim of no involvement in the recent bombings are taken at face value, arguably there are still a number of groups which can work as spoilers, though there is scepticism within officialdom over the umbrella group's intentions and sincerity.
So far the TTP has played its cards intelligently; some analysts say it is politically savvier than those at the helm, crafting a course of action that the government has no option but to follow. It has stalled any impending military operation and put the hawks and the government on the defensive.
The scenario is so complex, complicated and confusing that there are many within officialdom who now wonder if there is any clarity and vision at the top.
Like the Guinness records being set in Lahore, the false starts of the military operation, the on-again, off-again peace talks, the attacks and the number of terminologies describing the strikes -- from targeted to surgical to precision to retaliatory -- may also become a record of sorts. The only difference is that the Guinness records are being celebrated in Lahore, while the wave of attacks in the rest of the country is cause for mourning.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
[Times of Israel] President Champ is a "low-IQ US president," whose threat to launch a military offensive should nuclear talks fail is an oft-cited punchline in the Islamic Republic, particularly among children, an Iranian general said on Tuesday.
"The low-IQ US president and his country's Secretary of State John Kerry speak of the effectiveness of 'the US options on the table' on Iran while this phrase is mocked at and has become a joke among the Iranian nation, especially the children," General Masoud Jazayeri said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.
Jazayeri was responding to the US president's interview in Bloomberg on Sunday, in which Champ maintained that the Iranian leadership should take his "all options on the table" stance -- including the warning of a potential military strike -- seriously.
"We have a high degree of confidence that when they look at 35,000 US military personnel in the region that are engaged in constant training exercises under the direction of a president who already has shown himself willing to take military action in the past, that they should take my statements seriously," the president told Bloomberg.
Jazayeri called Champ's statements regarding the deployment of US troops "completely inexpert remarks far from the reality, and these statements can be used as the joke of the year."
The Iranian news agency Tuesday published a political cartoon mocking the US president, calling it: "All Options on Table." This Time for Russia." In a jab at US non-intervention in Ukraine, the cartoon portrays Champ peering forlornly into an empty paint can with the label "Red Line" while Russian President Vladimir Putin walks away saying, "I think you used it all on Syria."
The Iranian general also issued a warning to Champ that should US forces make a move, "the region will be turned into a hell for them."
Jazayeri is the second high-ranking official to castigate Champ since the interview was published Sunday. On Monday night, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham panned Obama's comments for undermining the diplomatic process.
"One part of the remarks made by the US president is in contradiction to the principles of the international law and against the spirit of diplomatic negotiations meant to prevent unconstructive slogans and resorting to threats," Afkham said.
Under an interim deal clinched in November, Iran agreed to curb parts of its nuclear program for six months in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The agreement came into effect on January 20.
Negotiators from the P5+1 group of world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany -- are set to resume talks on a permanent accord with Iranian nuclear negotiators on March 17 in Vienna.
"The (nuclear) negotiations are going well ... I'm hoping by the first deadline (July 20) we will reach an agreement," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi on February 28.
However, he said that there were still disagreements between the sides, referencing a "problem in terms of both substance and approach." He added that Iran would not get rid of its enrichment program.
"I can tell you that Iran's nuclear program will remain intact. We will not close any program," he said, according to Reuters.
Western nations and Israel have long suspected Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its civilian program, charges denied by Tehran.
#2
The Iranians (or the Russians) need not worry as Champ only follows through on his threats with the American people. He can't send the IRS to Iran or Russia.
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.
Wazoo
