[Ynet] President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... is considering a request from Afghanistan's Caped PresidentAshraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. to slow the pace of the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.
"In fact, if the pace of withdrawal could look suspiciously like a surge, we'd be completely amenable," President Ghani is rumoured to have added. This man is clearly no Hamid Karzai.
"President Ghani has requested some flexibility in the troop drawdown timeline and base closure sequencing over the next two years, and we are actively considering that request," the official said, speaking on background.
Ghani will travel to Washington next month to meet with Obama. Last month, the Afghan president spoke publicly about the US plan to halve the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2015 and cut them further in 2016. He made clear he would prefer a longer timeline and said: "deadlines should not be dogmas."
[AnNahar] The Taliban are increasing their dealings with narcotics traffickers, illegal mining rings and kidnappers for ransom, in a worrying development for Afghanistan's new leaders, a U.N. report said Monday.
"They are increasingly acting more like 'godfathers' than a 'government in waiting,'" said the report by the U.N. panel of experts on the Taliban.
While the Taliban's ties to drugs traffickers dates back to the 1990s, the report also details the movement's involvement in controlling natural resources, and thus depriving the central government of revenue.
Lapis lazuli mines in northeastern Badakhshan province are controlled by the Taliban who demand around $1 million annually from miners in exchange for being allowed to mine without fear of Taliban attacks, said the report.
In addition, the Taliban earn $240,000 to $360,000 per year in extortion from truckers who carry the stone away from the mines located in a predominantly Tajik-populated area.
The Taliban also pocket two thirds of earnings from chromite mining in southeast Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province and an estimated $16 million annually from ruby mining in Jagdalak, east of Kabul, the report said.
Hostage takings by the Taliban have increased since 2005, with ransoms paid totaling at least $16 million, according to the report.
"The scale and depth of this cooperation is new, and builds on decades of interaction between the Taliban and others involved in criminal behavior," said the report.
The experts argued that the Taliban's strengthened ties with organized crime would make it more difficult to foster reconciliation as the movement now has little economic incentive to make peace.
The report suggested that the Security Council could use targeted sanctions to take aim at the Taliban's criminal connections.
"This is all the more reason to intensify efforts to use the Security Council sanctions regime to expose and disrupt Taliban involvement in, and links to, criminal activity," said the report.
[AnNahar] An Egyptian appeals court on Wednesday overturned death sentences of 33 alleged Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi and ordered a retrial, state media and their lawyer said.
A lower court in June condemned to death 183 Islamists, including the 33, for the alleged murder of two coppers and attempted murder of five others in the southern province of Minya on August 14, 2013.
The defendants were found guilty of committing the murders on the same day that police potted hundreds of Morsi backers in Cairo festivities.
The June verdict came after a speedy mass trial and sparked an international outcry, with the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... saying such mass verdicts were "unprecedented in recent history".
On Tuesday, the Court of Cassation overturned the death sentences of the 33 Islamists and life terms of three others, and ordered their retrial, the official MENA news agency and defense lawyer Mohammed Tosson said.
The 36 defendants were in jug and had appealed against the lower court's verdict, said Ossama El-Helw, another defense lawyer.
Other co-defendants sentenced to death had been tried in absentia as they are on the run, and automatically face a retrial if they surrender.
Among those tried in absentia and sentenced to death last June was Mohammed Badie, who heads Morsi's Moslem Brüderbund movement, although he was in prison at the time of the trial.
Badie will also be retried.
In January, the appeals court ordered a retrial of another group of 152 Islamists, including 37 sentenced to death, in a similar case in Minya.
Critics accuse President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime of using the judiciary as a tool to repress its opponents.
They say Sisi has installed a regime that is more repressive than that of longtime president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , who was ousted in a 2011 popular uprising.
Since Sisi, who was then army chief, ousted Morsi in July 2013, a government crackdown has left more than 1,400 people dead, thousands jugged You have the right to remain silent... and hundreds sentenced to death.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] A group of Islamist fighters in Yemen renounced their loyalty to al Qaeda's leader and pledged allegiance to the head of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , according to a Twitter message retrieved by US-based monitoring group SITE. The monitoring group could not immediately verify the statement distributed on Twitter purportedly from supporters of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) based in central Yemen.
Can we expect more drone killings of the new ISIS membership, based in Al Q information on the whereabouts of their former friends?
AQAP is considered the most powerful branch of the global murderous Moslem network headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... and has previously rejected the authority of Islamic State which has declared a caliphate, or Islamic theocracy, in swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON (Rooters) - U.S. Marines handed over their remaining weapons to Yemenis at the airport in the capital, Sanaa, on Wednesday before boarding commercial aircraft to leave the country following the closure of the U.S. embassy, the Pentagon said. Epic fail and betrayal of United States Marines.
#3
All I can think of was November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981 and the Embassy Hostage situation in Tehran, Iran. Why Lord do we continue to go down the same trails, time after time ?
#5
Somehow, I just cannot believe that 'commercial air' was an element of our standing Non-Combatant Evacuation (NEO) plan at that stage of the closure. Someone took a very, very big gamble with the lives and welfare of our servicemen.
#8
Just knowing the few Marines that I do, I can suspect that they would have aggressively opposed this. To give them up would have to be a very direct order from someone very high up. Their rifles and side-arms are a part of their body.
Hell, they sleep with their rifles and pistols (loaded) when they're on active duty in the 'Fleet'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/12/2015 8:04 Comments ||
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#11
The O admin is beyond appeasement. They are beyond surrender. O wants to humiliate this great country at every chance he gets. This is a conscious effort to rub our noses in his hate for this country. DC has become a nest of evil like Fallujah.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/12/2015 10:17 Comments ||
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#12
Despicable cowardice and not by the Marines. Shameful that the State Department is this craven.
#13
“None of them were ‘handed over’ in any way to anyone. The destruction of weapons at the embassy and the airport was carried out in accordance with an approved destruction plan.
“Upon arrival at the airfield, all personal weapons were rendered inoperable in accordance with advance planning,” the statement continued.
“Specifically, each bolt was removed from its weapons body and rendered inoperable by smashing with sledgehammers. The weapons bodies, minus the bolts, were then separately smashed with sledgehammers.
“All of these destroyed components were left at the airport – and components were scattered; no usable weapon was taken from any Marine at Sana’a airport. To be clear: No Marine handed a weapon to a Houthi, or had one taken from him.”
#14
Based on a tale told by a Marine in our family, upon leaving Iraq (commercial airliner) in 2006, they did keep their rifles with them onboard. They had to stow their K-Bars (knives) in their gear, though.
Odd world.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/12/2015 14:20 Comments ||
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#15
As I said elsewhere:
#2 In a different world the US Navy amphib TF would. Lose to the harbor, and the last embassy staff, the colors and the Marines, armed and ready, would convoy all the embassy vehicles to the port and load them on landing craft. Overhead air cover and reinforcement as needed would be visible. If the vehicles pose an unnecessary space problem, deep six them. Leaving with your tail between your legs is not what a confident nation does. But then, this is what passes for leadership from the fools who cloak doing nothing under the rubric of "strategic patience".
Posted by NoMoreBS 2015-02-12 13:12|| 2015-02-12
Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Hasan Mahmud has called the members of BNP-Jamaat alliance 'militants.'
Referring to the ongoing incidents of arsons, he said: 'The BNP-Jamaat has turned into a militant organisation. They are burning and killing people in the name of blockade and hartal.'
He made the statement while addressing a press conference at the prime minister's political office in Dhanmondi on Wednesday afternoon.
Calling the BNP-Jamaat men 'killers and terrorists,' he further said: 'We can not hold dialogue with such party. There will be no talks with the coalition members until they shun the path of militancy.'
Regarding the proposal on holding dialogue to resolve the ongoing crisis, he said: 'There is no necessity of holding dialogue as the government is running the country as per the constitution. A vested quarter is trying to take advantage of the situation by placing such proposals.'
'The initiators of 1/11, are only seen in such situations and flee the scene afterwards, are trying to hide Khaleda's crimes.'
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[RFE/RL] Chechen chief Ramzan Kadyrov has indirectly confirmed a report posted on the militant website KavkazCenter that unknown people painted a black jihadi banner on a wall in his home village of Tsentoroi (Khosi-Yurt) during the night of February 8. He said local police apprehended those responsible within 24 hours.
According to the website, the entire village was cordoned off on February 9 after the banner was painted on a wall, together with the words, in English, "Khosi-Yurt is support ISIS."
KavkazCenter quoted unnamed village residents as saying that Kadyrov immediately fired all his closest security advisors, together with his chief of staff Magomed Daudov. He reportedly also fired all police personnel who live in Tsentoroi. There has been no official confirmation.
Kadyrov's version of what happened is not quite the same. He said that on discovery of the "artwork," police living in Tsentoroi immediately suspended themselves from duty pending dismissal and set about tracking down the perpetrators, who were apprehended within 24 hours. He did not identify the perpetrators or say how many there were.
Kadyrov said the entire village then gathered at a local sports stadium to express their support and approval of the police, whose letters of resignation Kadyrov said he has asked the Interior Minister to disregard.
#1
Why did all the police get fired? Did they paint it? Something is not being told here.
Posted by: chris ||
02/12/2015 10:33 Comments ||
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#2
Does seem like some missing bits. But as someone (Pappy?) said, Kadyrov is trying to be the useful part of Islam. I'm guessing his first question to his minions was why haven't you killed these people?
[IsraelTimes] Multi-national cooperation comes amid Turkish 'provocations'; Greek defense minister says closer ties with Israel crucial for regional security
Greece plans joint military exercises with Israel, Cyprus and Egypt, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said Wednesday, amid continuing tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over oil exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
Kammenos, visiting close ally Cyprus, said the two countries, along with Israel and "possibly" Egypt would begin joint exercises within the coming months aimed at improving regional security.
Cyprus has suspended UN-led peace talks with Turkey, which invaded the island in 1974 and still occupies its northern third, saying Ankara persists in trying to hamper the country's energy search.
Nicosia has licensed exploratory drilling in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and is unhappy that Ankara is determined to search for oil and gas in the same area.
Kammenos criticized as a "clear provocation" Turkey's sending of a survey ship to the waters where the drilling is taking place.
"We want peace," Kammenos told news hounds during an official visit, "but we are also ready to respond to any attempt against the national illusory sovereignty or territorial integrity of the broader defence area of Greece and Cyprus, if necessary."
Kammenos said Cyprus and Greece, which he called "pillars of stability and security," would upgrade cooperation in the light of the island's energy search within its exclusive economic zone.
At the same time, Athens would proceed with delineating its offshore boundaries for its own exploration.
Kammenos said cooperation "essentially extends the responsibility of providing security and defence areas by defining the EEZ, which Cyprus has already done and very soon the Greek Republic will do as well".
He said regional security also meant closer ties with Israel, another energy player.
"Defence planning should take into account friends and allies which seek defence cooperation in the region. And I clearly I mean eastward toward Israel."
US firm Noble Energy made the first find off Cyprus's southeast coast in 2011 in a block estimated to contain up to 6 trillion cubic feet (170 billion cubic metres) of gas.
Cyprus has ambitions to become a regional gas hub for its own exports, as well those from Israel and even Leb. Energy-starved Egypt is also banking on Cyprus untapping greater reserves.
Cyprus is hoping to export its gas, and maybe oil, by 2022.
[IsraelTimes] Bipartisan politicians aim to make renunciation of Israel boycott efforts in Europe a key negotiating point in largest free trade deal in history
A new Congressional bill will seek to battle efforts to boycott Israel by linking rejection of BDS to a trade agreement being negotiated with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , the largest free trade deal in history.
Continued on Page 49
[FreeBeacon] "On Tuesday evening, the United States ordered the evacuation of all remaining staff at its embassy in Yemen. The evacuation comes on the heels of threats that the Yemeni rebels would kidnap foreigners.
State Department Spokeswoman Jen Ptui Psaki was asked whether the United States was âbeing run out of town.â Ptui Psaki denied that, and said that other countries have moved their staffs out of the country as well. This is the third embassy the United States has had to abandon in the Middle East since the start of the Arab Spring.
âWhat the United States leadership is reflected in the fact that we want to return. We want to be engaged. We want to play a role, if we can play a role,â Ptui Psaki said. A strategic advance to the rear..so we can lead from behind..or something.
#2
Of course USA is not being run out of ME. US politicians will still be able to come to Israel---to lecture us on the need for comprehensive "Palestinian"-Israeli Peace Accord.
#5
ValJar, I shudder to imagine what we are going to learn this wicked creature has convinced the Idiot to allow. Imagine an Iranian agent at the highest level of government working to affect policy to their advantage. How would it be different than what you see now?
Posted by: Anise Nim ||
02/12/2015 16:00 Comments ||
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#7
Brave obama ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave obama turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, obama!
Posted by: Axl Rose ||
02/12/2015 20:04 Comments ||
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#9
Advancing in a 180 degree direction.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/12/2015 20:10 Comments ||
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#10
OTOH see DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > THE US SHOULD THINK -AND ACT - LIKE A SUPERPOWER - WASHINGTON POST.
In case the WAPO + others missed it, America = Amerika is not in the Age of OWG Globalism where the US is ultimately or ideally intended to just be one OWG Co-Superpower among many OWG Co-Superpowers, in the US image, economy, + capability.
BY THE ABOVE SCOPE, THE US THUSLY CANNOT THINK OR ACT, ETC. LIKE A [Sole?]SUPERPOWER ANYMORE BECAUSE IT MEANS OR INFERS THAT ITS GLOBALIST CO-SUPERPOWER SIBLINGS CANNOT OR WON'T RISE TO POWER-N-PARITY.
Again, GLOBALISM = ACROSS-THE-BOARD "PARITY" TO THE US, ASAP AMAP ALAP + INCLUDING NUKES,ETC.
N-O-T "INFERIORITY" TO THE US.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
It is why Anti-US US Globalist Obama AS POTUS will unilaterally allow IRAN + RUSSIA [Darth Vlad] + CHINA [Other?] expand their spheres of influence to the detriment of both the US + its historical Allies.
THE US-ALLIES = WORLD ORDER/BALANCE OF POWER INCLUD NUCLEAR BALANCE OF TERROR ARE INTENTIONALLY DELIBERATELY BEING PLACED AT EXISTENTIAL RISK.
PRAY HARD + HOPE THE BAMMER + GLOBIES, ETAL. DON'T MISCALCULATE.
Again, UNTIL SUCH TIME OWG-NWO IS FINALLY, PERMANENTLY, + IRREVOCABLY EMPLACED + ENTRENCHED, THINGYS ARE LIKELY GONNA GET WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER.
#12
FYI, over at MANILA TIMES + BIGNEWSNETWORK, it appears that SHTF for PH President Aquino + Top Party-Admin Underlings as the deadly Mamasapano incident seemingly devols into another "Benghazi".
There are rumors of PH Army elements getting ready to overthrow Aquino in a coup.
The harsh criticisms that Aquino is presently experiencing can easily occur agz Globalist Obama as the "Sole" Superpower USA unilaterally deliberately reduces its MilPol-Geopol presence + influence, etc. across the World so that OWG Co-Superpowers Iran, Russia, + China [Other?] can regionally rise in its place.
Personally, I'm more curious about MSM-Net Reports that the ISIS has taken over most of Al-Asad AirBase in Iraq, potentially putting up to 300 USMC Advisors at risk of being besieged, captured or killed. GOES AGAIN TO YEARS/LONG-AGO PERSONAL DREAMS OR VISIONS OF MINE.
"WILL FIGHT ISIS TO THE LAST BEAN-N-BULLET" JORDAN = PHILIPPINES = GUAM-WESTPAC = OWG GLOBALIST "RETREAT IS [World/Global]PEACE" AMERIKA MAY NOT HAVE YOUR BACK OR SIX AS LIKE TO BELIEVE.
* FYI AS PER DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS, USA = MAY BE FACING A MAJOR OR TOTAL SUPPLY = LOGISTICS SHUTDOWN.
Jordan = Israel, etc, should plan for contingency agz the ISIS, etc, iff they run out of military inventory + THE US-WEST CAN SUDDENLY NO LONGER RE-SUPPLY THEM.
[JudicialWatch] The narco-terror ringleader who planned the 2009 bombing of Oprah Winfreyâs Chicago studios and the iconic Sears Tower has been released from jail, his newfound freedom facilitated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Emad Karakrah was incarcerated in Cook County Jail since taking police on a high-speed chase through Chicago streets in late August and threatening to blow up his car. An Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) flag waved from the vehicle and Karakrah got charged with making a false car bomb threat. But on January 7, 2015 Karakrah reached a plea deal in Cook County Court and was released from prison.
Karakrahâs role in a sophisticated narco-terror ring, centered in El Paso, Texas, has been extensively reported by Judicial Watch over the past four months. The operation, uncovered with Judicial Watchâs help, has connections running from Chicago to New York City and involves two of the FBIâs âmost wanted.â
Karakrah was reportedly recruited as an FBI confidential informant (CI) in 2009 after his plot to bomb Winfreyâs Harpo Studios and the Sears Tower (renamed Willis Tower) with a truck bomb was foiled. It wasnât long before he broke contact with his FBI handlers, according to Judicial Watchâs sources, and for years he successfully evaded them.
It is not clear why the FBI would have any interest or confidence in its ability to control or direct Karakrah. The agency was contacted for comment on this report and failed to respond as it has when reached for comment on other stories in this ongoing narco-terror series.
A disgruntled leader of the Pakistain Peoples Party has said there were 'serious differences' between party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and his father, former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, over the 'poor' performance of the Sindh government ' a claim rejected by the party.
'All those sycophants who are denying the differences between the father and the son are telling a lie but I confirm such differences between the two with a big yes,' claimed Dr Zulfikar Mirza ' a former provincial home minister and once a close aide to Mr Zardari ' while talking to a group of journalists in Golarchi town at his farmhouse in Mourjhar late Monday evening.
Dr Mirza said Mr Bhutto-Zardari was 'extremely unhappy and dissatisfied' with the performance of the Sindh government and its 'inept, corrupt and incompetent ministers' whom, he alleged, had deviated from the mission envisaged by the slain party leader 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... .
Firing a broadside at provincial ministers, an angry Dr Mirza said, they were 'involved in selling jobs by grabbing hefty amounts even from committed party activists'.
'Bilawal wanted to run party affairs like his mother, but he found himself stymied by vested interests,' he added.
He said his 'forthrightness' had brought a slew of issues for him.
Dr Mirza said he might take his own way before the next general elections to serve the downtrodden and deprived people of Sindh if his reservations were not addressed by the party leadership.
He said the party had totally been hijacked by 'corrupt and opportunistic people who lacked the vision of the founding fathers and deaders of the party'.
He blamed Dr Babar Awan and Senator Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. for briefing Mr Zardari 'incorrectly and misguiding' him regarding the facts associated with the liquidation of Benazir Bhutto.
He demanded that both leaders were included in the investigation of the former prime minister's liquidation.
'Holding responsible only a terrorist group for liquidation of Benazir Bhutto is not enough,' Dr Mirza added. 'Her blood has been terribly compromised for petty interests of the corrupt and inept people.'
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Couched in diplomatically-reserved language, the Foreign Office told Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... on Tuesday that money being sent from the kingdom to Pakistain through informal channels would face scrutiny.
"Funding by private individuals and organizations to private entities through informal channels... is being brought under tighter scrutiny in the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism, to choke off any possibility of financing for Lions of Islam and terrorist organizations," read a Foreign Office rejoinder to a Saudi embassy statement claiming that the FO had, in the past, cleared its financing of mosques, seminaries and charity organizations.
Though the FO was responding to a Saudi embassy statement, it attempted to avoid offending the Saudis by noting that donations coming through informal channels would be examined "regardless of the source and country".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ...Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz Uncle Fester Sharif. He is noted for his vocal anti-American railing in the National Assembly. However (comma) Khan told the U.S. ambassador that he was in fact pro-American but he and the PML-N would have to be critical of US actions in order to remain publicly credible. Khan cited his wife and children's US citizenship as proof, which means he's lying to one side or the other and probably both. He wears a wig, but you probably guessed that. since hair doesn't grow naturally in that shape or texture... said Wednesday that the government will ensure a ban on all proscribed organizations mentioned in the blacklist of the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... within the next few days.
"There is some confusion regarding the list of banned outfits but I want to make it clear that the government will ban all proscribed organizations mentioned in the blacklist of the United Nations, as Pakistain is a signatory of the UN," said the minister, while speaking on the floor of the National Assembly today.
Nisar underscored that the government would not ban an organization under pressure from any country, including the United States and India. He, however, said Pakistain would fulfil its obligation as a signatory of the United Nations, adding that such a step would be in the country's favour.
"According to the procedure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes to the Ministry of Interior to put a ban on an organization after the UN announcement to include such proscribed organizations in the blacklist," the minister added.
A day before, the interior minister had directed Secretary Interior Shahid Khan to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reconcile a 'national list' of proscribed organizations as per the blacklist of the United Nations.
The minister also said Pakistain is facing terrorism for the last 13 years, adding that it was the Pakistain Moslem League - Nawaz (PML-N) government which had taken steps to initiate dialogue with holy warriors fighting against the state.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved its verdict on Mumtaz Qadri’s appeal against his death sentence in a case pertaining to the murder of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer.
Qadri's counsel Mian Nazir Akhtar contended that Pakistan is a Muslim country, not a western or a secular nation, adding that the Holy Quran is referred in order to resolve disputes between an individual and the state
A two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, heard the appeal against Qadri's conviction.
During the hearing, Qadri's counsel Mian Nazir Akhtar contended that Pakistan is a Muslim country, not a western or a secular nation, adding that the Holy Quran is referred in order to resolve disputes between an individual and the state.
To this, Justice Shaukat remarked whether terming a sacred law as a black law would come under the domain of blasphemy. He further added that nothing could justify the murder of the victim.
Advocate General Mian Abdul Rauf, who was representing the federal government, said that any allegations against Taseer should have been proved in the court. He said there was no war of words between Qadri and the former Punjab governor, adding that the accused was not authorised in any way to take the law in his own hands.
Rauf further said that extra judicial killing is against the Constitution and law and added that Qadri's crime was known to all and therefore the court should dismiss his appeal.
The court subsequently reserved its decision on Qadri's death appeal.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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And I might have dropped 25 pounds last week.
[DAWN] Former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI) Lt-Gen (retd) Asad Durrani has said that Pakistain had 'most likely' revealed the position of former Al Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... to the US, a report published on the Al Jazeera website said.
In an interview on Al Jazeera's Head to Head show, the former ISI chief cast doubts over the intelligence agency's official line that it was unaware of the Al Qaeda chief's whereabouts prior to his killing.
"I cannot say exactly what happened but my assessment [...] was it is quite possible that they [the ISI] did not know but it was more probable that they did. And the idea was that at the right time, his location would be revealed. And the right time would have been, when you can get the necessary quid pro quo -- if you have someone like Osama bin Laden, you are not going to simply hand him over to the United States," the former head of Pakistain's premier intelligence agency told the host of the show.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
If you have someone like Osama bin Laden, you are not going to simply hand him over to the United States," the former head of Pakistain's premier intelligence agency told the host of the show.
#2
Books, movies, Hollywood, the presidential election, not to mention host-nation military coordination, Klingon advance team and polio inoculation cover story, the timing must be just right.
#5
Agree with 3birdman. Time to call everyone home and let a short period of rejoicing commence in the NWF and the various pest holed that pass for cities in the land of the pure. A short period. Very short.
#6
Given that Pakistain is less of a nation state and more a collection of waring tribes, factions and bureaucracies, I'd be surprised if someone *didn't rat out OBL. The likely culprit? I dunno. Who hates the ISI the most?
[AnNahar] Pakistain's main intelligence agency probably knew where the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... was hiding and hoped to use him as a bargaining chip before he was killed by U.S. forces in 2011, a former spymaster has said.
Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, who led the country's Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI) agency from 1990 to 1992, made the comments while speaking on Al Jazeera's "Head to Head" interview show on Tuesday.
The al-Qaeda chief was tracked down after a 10-year manhunt to Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , a garrison town north of Islamabad where Pakistain's military academy is headquartered, sparking allegations authorities were colluding with the terror group.
A Pak-government appointed commission found nothing to support those claims, but also did not rule out the possibility of "'plausibly deniable' support" from current or former officials.
Asked whether it was possible for Bin Laden to have lived in the town without the powerful ISI's knowledge, Durrani said: "My assessment... was it is quite possible that they (the ISI) did not know, but it was more probable that they did.
"And the idea was that at the right time, his location would be revealed. And the right time would have been when you can get the necessary quid pro quo -- if you have someone like Osama bin Laden, you are not going to simply hand him over to the United States."
Durrani, who emphasised that he had no specific knowledge of the issue, suggested Pakistain may have been harbouring Bin Laden in the hope of getting a bigger say in the future of neighbouring Afghanistan, where U.S.-led forces officially ended a 13-year combat mission at the end of 2014.
"The quid pro quo to my mind... (was) you get your Osama bin Laden, provided that, now let's agree, let's agree on how to bring the Afghan problem to an end," Durrani told Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... , according to a transcript released by the broadcaster.
Pakistain was one of three countries that officially recognised the Taliban government which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and is often accused of continuing to provide covert support for their current insurgency.
A leaked Pak government report in 2013 said Bin Laden arrived in Pakistain in the spring or summer of 2002 -- after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan -- and settled in Abbottabad in August 2005.
The report, which coined the term "governance implosion syndrome" to explain the extent of official failures to detect him, said he was once stopped for speeding and enjoyed wearing a cowboy hat.
Bin Laden was shot and killed following a dramatic helicopter raid by U.S. special forces in the early hours of May 2, 2011.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
add mullah omar, haqanni and zawihiri to that list.
Posted by: paul ||
02/12/2015 14:43 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Washington left to hash out agreement with Tehran after 5 other nations back off negotiations, Bob Corker says
Leading from... somewhere.
Five of the six world powers negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program have stepped back, leaving Washington to hammer out a deal with Tehran, a key US politician said Tuesday.
"It's evident that these negotiations are really not P5+1 negotiations any more," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said as he emerged from a closed-door briefing by B.O. regime officials on the status of nuclear talks with Iran.
"It's really more of a bilateral negotiation between the United States and Iran."
The five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany have undertaken years-long talks with Iran in a bid to halt the Islamic republic's nuclear drive.
Several rounds of sanctions have been imposed on Iran, cutting deeply into the country's economy.
Under an interim agreement reached in November 2013, Iran has diluted its stock of fissile materials from 20 percent enriched uranium to five percent in exchange for limited sanctions relief.
But two deadlines for a permanent agreement have already been missed, requiring the talks to be extended.
President Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... at the White House on Monday, and Obama said he saw no reason to further extend the current deadlines.
The present issue, Obama said, was "does Iran have the political will and the desire to get a deal done?"
With a March 31 deadline for a political agreement approaching, and a final deal confirming technical details required by June 30, Corker said the key players are now essentially Washington and Tehran.
"I was in Munich this weekend (for an international security conference) and was very aware that this was becoming more of a one-on-one negotiation," the Senate Republican told news hounds.
Corker and the Democrat he replaced as committee chairman, Senator Robert Menendez, left the latest briefing expressing concern about the administration basing negotiations on the need to maintain Iran's potential nuclear weapons "breakout" time to at least one year.
"One of my major concerns all along that is becoming more crystal clear to me, is that we are, instead of preventing proliferation, we are managing proliferation," Menendez said.
Having Iran just one year away from building a bomb would be "a different world and a far more challenging world," he added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama said he saw no reason to further extend the current deadlines
That's because the political price from doing another extension wasn't worth it.
[IraqiNews.com] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced it had opened its own bank in the city of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... for giving loans and redeeming mutilated (damaged) currency, in a move that raised concerns about financing the terrorist organization's businesses.
'Russia Today' website wrote, "ISIS opened a private bank to give loans and redeem mutilated currency," adding that, "This might be an ISIS scheme to control the funds in areas under its grip."
The website added, "ISIS' geographic expansion enables it to economically expand wide enough to open its privately-owned "Islamic bank" in Mosul; its purpose is to give out loans and to replace mutilated currency."
"This step raises concerns because the bank will be used in financing the organization's business," it stated, pointing out that, "According to press reports, the bank is witnessing high demand in areas under ISIS control, that's due to poverty among citizens who are being exploited by the terrorist group offering them loans for nothing in return."
It also said, "While Iraqi economic medium is discussing the repercussions of establishing this bank, there are concerns about large amounts of Iraqi currency accumulating in ISIS' hands, especially with four billion dinars received by citizens from the Iraqi government as monthly salaries in areas under the group's control."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
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[IsraelTimes] Busted spy Muhammad Shorba foiled plot to avenge killing of Imad Mughniyeh as well as plan to attack embassy in Azerbaijan, reports al-Araby al-Jadid
So many plots, so few results! One would feel for the Hizb'allah leadership, one really would, were it not that they were so busily evil. Mr. Shorba must have been very pleased with what he accomplished before they caught him.
ِAn Israeli collaborator within the ranks of Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah thwarted the organization's plan to assassinate former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and attack the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan in 2009, a London-based Arab daily reported on Wednesday.
Al-Araby Al-Jadid quoted a Lebanese political source as saying that Muhammad Shorba, locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! by Hezbollah late last year, was appointed by Hezbollah to avenge the liquidation of Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh in February 2008 by striking Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe and Latin America.
As prime minister, Olmert launched the Second Leb War in August 2006 following Hezbollah's cross-border kidnapping of Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and was also reportedly involved in Mughniyeh's liquidation. The daily did not provide any details on when or how Olmert's liquidation was to take place.
The liquidation of Mughniyeh was considered a major blow to Hezbollah, which vowed at the time to avenge the death.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged Shorba's arrest in an interview with Lebanese TV station Al-Mayadeen in January, saying he had fallen under suspicion five months earlier and admitted to collaborating with Israel following his arrest.
Shorba worked as a traveling businessman and was recruited by the Mossad in a "western Asian country," according to a December report in Lebanese daily El-Nashra.
He also reportedly exposed several Hezbollah agents, including Mohammed Amadar, arrested in Peru in late October with TNT and detonators following a Mossad tip-off; Hossam Yaacoub, convicted in Cyprus for planning attacks against Israeli tourists in March 2013; and Daoud Farhat and Youssef Ayad, arrested in April 2014 in Bangkok for planning terror attacks against Israeli tourists in Thailand.
Omri Nir, an expert on Lebanese politics at Jerusalem's Hebrew University said that given Hezbollah's past attempts to gather intelligence on Israeli officials, the report in Al-Araby Al-Jadid was not out of the question.
In August 2009, 23-year-old Rawi Sultani of Tirah was indicted for spying on then-IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi at the gym.
"It certainly sounds plausible," Nir told The Times of Israel. "I imagine that just like any state, they collect intelligence so that one day when the operational opportunity arises they can claim it was done to avenge Mughniyeh."
The fact that Hezbollah did not hand Shorba over to Lebanese security but insists on interrogating him itself, as well as his mention in Nasrallah's interview, indicated that he is likely "a big fish," Nir added.
Israel significantly stepped up its intelligence gathering in Leb following the 2006 Second Leb War, when it exhausted its target bank within days due to lack of quality information on Hezbollah, he said.
"Hezbollah knows this, and is stressed. Every few months Lebanese media reports on [Israeli] surveillance devices, cameras along the border, or spy planes," Nir noted. The liquidation of Hezbollah commander Hassan al-Lakis in Beirut in December 2013 would not have been possible without inside involvement, he added.
A report in the Daily Beast last month revealed that Mughniyeh's liquidation was carried out as a joint operation between Israeli and American security agents. Jerusalem and Washington have not officially grabbed credit for the killing.
[IsraelTimes] Up from January estimate of 19,000; rate of travel of foreign jihadists is 'unprecedented,' officials say; 3,400 are from West, 150 are US citizens
Foreign fighters are flocking to Syria at an "unprecedented" rate, with more than 20,000 volunteers from around the world joining the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... or other holy warrior groups, US intelligence officials said Tuesday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/12/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
A 'bug man' in the South might report that "the bait stations are working."
Rachel Aliene Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003) from Olympia, Washington, was an American peace activist and diarist. She was a member of the pro-Palestinian group called the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
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Zawahiri
Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Hasan Mahmud has called the members of BNP-Jamaat alliance 'militants.'
[RFE/RL] Chechen chief Ramzan Kadyrov has indirectly confirmed a report posted on the militant website KavkazCenter that unknown people painted a black jihadi banner on a wall in his home village of Tsentoroi (Khosi-Yurt) during the night of February 8. He said local police apprehended those responsible within 24 hours.
[FreeBeacon] "On Tuesday evening, the United States ordered the evacuation of all remaining staff at its embassy in Yemen. The evacuation comes on the heels of threats that the Yemeni rebels would kidnap foreigners.
[JudicialWatch] The narco-terror ringleader who planned the 2009 bombing of Oprah Winfreyâs Chicago studios and the iconic Sears Tower has been released from jail, his newfound freedom facilitated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Emad Karakrah was incarcerated in Cook County Jail since taking police on a high-speed chase through Chicago streets in late August and threatening to blow up his car. An Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) flag waved from the vehicle and Karakrah got charged with making a false car bomb threat. But on January 7, 2015 Karakrah reached a plea deal in Cook County Court and was released from prison.
A disgruntled leader of the Pakistain Peoples Party has said there were 'serious differences' between party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and his father, former president and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, over the 'poor' performance of the Sindh government ' a claim rejected by the party.
Currently the Interior Minister of Pakistain. He is the senior leader of the Pak Moslem League (N) and a close aide to Nawaz 
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
[IraqiNews.com] The 
